Serbia’s last independent media under threat as civil society sounds the alarm

Serbia under Aleksandar Vučić has experienced a steady and systematic dismantling of media independence over the last decade

A broad coalition of Serbian civil society organisations and media associations warned that the potential sale of some of Serbia’s last independent media outlets to the Portuguese investment fund Alpac Capital would represent a direct and potentially irreversible threat to media freedom in Serbia and across the Western Balkans.

In their joint statement, the organisations expressed deep concern over reports that United Group is preparing to sell the Adria News Network (ANN), including independent broadcasters N1 and Nova S, as well as publications such as Radar and Danas, alongside around a dozen additional media outlets across the Western Balkans, to European Future Media Investment, a fund managed by Alpac Capital.

If confirmed, the organisations warned, this transaction could become one of the most consequential blows to media pluralism in Europe in recent years.

The concern is not merely commercial. Serbia under Aleksandar Vučić has experienced a steady and systematic dismantling of media independence over the last decade. Critical journalists have faced intimidation, smear campaigns, surveillance allegations, economic pressure, and exclusion from public institutions. Independent editorial spaces have gradually shrunk as pro-government oligarchic capital has expanded its influence across television, print, and digital platforms. Major national broadcasters operate under a climate of self-censorship, while regulatory bodies have repeatedly been accused of political capture and selective enforcement.

In this environment, N1 and Nova S have remained among the few major outlets willing to critically scrutinise the government, expose corruption, question state narratives, and provide space for opposition voices. Their reporting has frequently made them targets of attacks by senior officials and pro-regime tabloids, which routinely portray independent journalists as foreign agents, traitors, or destabilising actors.

The organisations stressed that placing these remaining editorially independent outlets under the control of a company whose previous media investments have been accompanied by documented accusations of censorship, political interference, and editorial degradation would accelerate Serbia’s slide toward full-spectrum media capture.

Their concerns are reinforced by Alpac Capital’s record with Euronews, where critics have raised concerns about political influence, as well as by reports regarding links between the company’s management, Hungarian state-backed capital structures, and political circles aligned with illiberal governments in Central and Southeastern Europe. Such networks have often been associated with media acquisitions designed less for profitability than for narrative control.

The signatories called on Luxembourg’s media regulator to conduct the strictest possible assessment of Alpac Capital’s suitability as an owner of independent media, taking fully into account its previous record, the role of Hungarian state capital in earlier transactions, and the personal and political connections between company leadership and Serbian authorities.

They also urged Marta Kos and the European Commission to make clear that transferring Serbia’s last major independent media outlets to actors connected to state-captured media systems would carry consequences for Serbia’s European Union accession path.

The appeal was equally directed at BC Partners and United Group, with a call to refrain from selling ANN’s independent media assets to any individual or entity with a compromised record on media freedom and instead preserve the editorial independence that distinguishes these outlets.

The warning comes at a moment when Serbia’s democratic backsliding is increasingly visible not only through electoral irregularities and institutional capture, but through the near-total erosion of media pluralism. For many observers, the possible takeover of N1, Nova S, Danas and related outlets would not simply mark another business transaction. It would signal the near completion of the regime’s long-term project to eliminate independent scrutiny and consolidate informational control over Serbian society.

The statement was signed by dozens of prominent organisations, including the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, CRTA, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, among many others. /The Balkan Report/