In Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbia, journalists are under growing pressure

President Vučić himself regularly contributes to this hostile climate by publicly labeling critical journalists as “mercenaries” or “terrorists”

In Serbia, press freedom continues to deteriorate amid student-led protests against corruption and the increasingly authoritarian governance of President Aleksandar Vučić. What journalists are experiencing today is not a series of isolated incidents but rather the outcome of a long-term process of media capture, intimidation, and political control that has intensified over the past year.

Covering anti-corruption protests has become a high-risk task. Journalists and reporters are regularly targeted, both while reporting on the ground and in their private lives. One such journalist is Ksenija Pavkov, a reporter with N1 television, one of the last national broadcasters not under direct or indirect government control and now openly targeted by authorities and pro-regime actors.

“It often happens that pro-regime hooligans throw stones, bottles, or rocks at us, without the police doing anything to protect us. On top of that, we face constant insults and threats, including death threats,” Pavkov said on RTS’s morning program La Matinale.

The lack of police intervention has become a recurring pattern, reinforcing the sense of impunity surrounding attacks on journalists.

President Vučić himself regularly contributes to this hostile climate by publicly labeling critical journalists as “mercenaries” or “terrorists.” Such rhetoric from the highest level of power effectively legitimizes harassment and violence, particularly in smaller towns where independent journalists are more exposed and institutional protection is weaker.

“Journalists who are critical or do not support the regime are systematically smeared by tabloids. Pro-regime media publish details from their private lives and fabricate stories about them,” explains Zoran Knežević, editor-in-chief of Radio 021 in Novi Sad.

These campaigns serve both to discredit journalists publicly and to intimidate others into self-censorship.

Investigating corruption and clientelist networks, the very issues that have driven protests for more than a year, have become increasingly difficult.

According to Milica Šarić, director of the Serbian Center for Investigative Journalism, obstruction by state institutions is now the norm rather than the exception.

“Investigative reporting has never been more difficult. Authorities systematically deny access to public documents. Everything is wrapped in secrecy and a lack of transparency,” Šarić says.

Legal guarantees exist on paper, but in practice they are hollow, as institutions refuse cooperation and oversight bodies remain politically captured.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Serbia has become Europe’s “weak link” in terms of press freedom. Despite formal commitments to European standards, attacks on journalists are rarely prosecuted, regulatory bodies lack independence, and economic pressure, through advertising and inspections, is widely used to discipline critical media.

The pressure on journalists is therefore not merely a media issue; it is a central feature of Serbia’s democratic decline. As independent journalism exposes corruption, abuse of power, and institutional decay, it increasingly clashes with a political system that relies on controlling narratives to maintain authority. In today’s Serbia, reporting the facts has become an act of defiance.