In Serbia, the number of registered media outlets does not necessarily translate into access to local news. As residents increasingly rely on social media and word of mouth, matters of public interest are left without sustained journalistic scrutiny.

Author: Sanja Đorđević

There is no local newsroom in Veliko Gradište that covers the town’s daily life. Residents therefore often rely on social media and “Radio Mileva” – the local expression for information passed from person to person. But this form of communication cannot replace regular, verified and critical journalism.

Despite what its name might suggest, Veliko Gradište is a small town. It sits on the Danube in eastern Serbia, near the border with Romania. According to the 2022 census, the town itself has 5,518 residents, while the municipality as a whole has a population of 15,455.

When Nenad Mihajlović, known as Goja, wants to find out what is happening in his town, he turns to social media. Veliko Gradište has no newsroom of its own, and media outlets in neighbouring towns report on local events only occasionally.

Veliko Gradište is known for Silver Lake, a former branch of the Danube that was dammed to create a lake and has become a popular tourist destination. The area around the lake has undergone intensive tourism development in recent years. Visitors are also drawn to the nearby Golubac Fortress and Tumane Monastery.

Yet when Veliko Gradište makes the news, coverage tends to focus on tourist attractions and events, while residents’ everyday problems and the work of local institutions receive considerably less attention.

“Local media in the region are essentially just a mouthpiece for the mainstream ruling establishment, and they only publish positive stories about them,” Mihajlović says.

When national media report on Veliko Gradište, it is often in the context of crime news.

In search of information about everyday life in his town, Mihajlović therefore relies mainly on social media, although he is aware that the information he finds there is not always verified.

“You pick up those crumbs that fall off someone’s table through social media,” Mihajlović says.

Milena Dimitrijević, director of the Vuk Karadžić Library, also gets her news through social media. Yet in a small community like Veliko Gradište, information is still often shared directly, from person to person.

“We’re a small town, and Frau Gabriela is still at work here. Information passes from person to person,” Dimitrijević says, referring to the informal grapevine through which local news and gossip circulate.

The library also plays a role in sharing information. Dimitrijević says tourists visiting Silver Lake have approached her for practical information and offered suggestions about what could be improved at the tourist destination.

“They even expressed their wishes, telling us what was missing at the lake, so we pressed for changing cabins to be installed,” the library director says.

Dimitrijević remembers a time when residents learned about local events through Radio Galeb, which once broadcast in Veliko Gradište. There was also a local television station, Kopernikus, and a magazine called Gradištanski almanah, published by the library.

Today, Carevačka lira, a magazine promoted at an event dedicated to violinist and conductor Vlastimir Pavlović Carevac, is still printed once a year, but it does not reach a wider audience.

Until last year, the town also had TPK News, an online news outlet named after the nearby village of Topolovnik. It was a tabloid. Our interviewees considered it unreliable.

Self-Censorship Funded by Taxpayers’ Money

About 30 kilometres west of Veliko Gradište, in Požarevac, is the newsroom of Boom93, an online news outlet that also covers events in surrounding communities. Its director and editor-in-chief, Milorad Tadić, plans to expand coverage of Veliko Gradište, where there is no local newsroom.

“The local government is the only producer of news. There is no public scrutiny of its work whatsoever,” Tadić says.

In Tadić’s view, Veliko Gradište lacks systematic journalistic coverage of public procurement, competitions for media project funding, the work of public enterprises and urban planning decisions. Questions about potential conflicts of interest and the granting of building permits, he believes, receive insufficient public scrutiny.

Although the Municipality of Veliko Gradište allocates funds to co-finance media projects, Tadić questions the results of this funding. In his view, rather than supporting journalism that critically examines the work of local institutions, taxpayers’ money is used to promote the local authorities.

“The consequence is self-censorship on serious issues, and citizens are deprived of the information they need the most,” Tadić says.

Historian Nenad Mihajlović Goja doubts that an independent local media outlet could survive in Veliko Gradište. He fears it would face pressure from the local authorities as soon as it began reporting critically on their work.

Tijana Blagojev, a researcher at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, also warns of the pressures facing local media across Serbia.

“Pressure on local media is now open, blatant and direct, with increasingly intense attempts to intimidate and suppress critical reporting,” she says, citing findings from research by Local Press, the Association of Independent Local Media.

Blagojev warns that a large number of registered media outlets in Serbia does not necessarily mean diverse local news coverage. In her assessment, many outlets are inactive or publish content only occasionally, while some do not report independently.

She also points to the acquisition of local media outlets by other media companies which, she says, regularly violate the journalistic code of ethics. Such changes, according to Blagojev, can also affect editorial policies.

“We are seeing rapid changes in editorial policy, increases in hate speech, violations of the right to privacy and attacks on those who hold different views,” Blagojev says.

In Blagojev’s assessment, the weakening of independent journalism has particularly pronounced consequences in small communities, where it can contribute to greater social polarisation. Residents pay the highest price, as they are left without important information they need to make informed decisions.

Local media, she emphasises, provide information that often cannot be found in national outlets, preserve a record of the community’s history and give a voice to different groups within society. They also have a more direct connection with their audiences, which can help foster greater public trust.

“It is extremely important that citizens understand the significance of the values that local media provide,” Blagojev concludes.