Serbia’s RSF Media Freedom Ranking Drops to 104th Place

TV test pattern (Photo:pixabay.com)

According to this year’s Press Freedom Index published on April 30 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Serbia has dropped to 104th out of 180 countries, which is eight places below the country’s 2025 ranking.

Serbia’s fact-file explains that journalists reporting on the 2025 anti-government protests “suffered a record number of physical attacks, at least 100, many of which were committed by police officers.”

“In a political climate that became even more polarized by anti-government protests in 2023-2025, journalists are often the targets of attacks by members of the ruling elite led by President Aleksandar Vucic, a press freedom predator, and amplified by certain national TV channels,” the report states.

The document further says that reporters critical of the regime have limited access to public information and interviews with government representatives.

The permanent government working group for journalist safety “has been hampered by a lack of political will,” RSF explains, leading many media outlets to boycott it.

RSF’s Press Freedom Index also grades countries on a five-point scale from good, through satisfactory, problematic, difficult to very serious. From 2013 to 2023, Serbia’s level of media freedom was labeled “problematic.” As of 2024, the situation in the country has been deemed “difficult.”