1

Aleksandra Krstić, Ph.D.1

Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade

The EU as Valuable Mediator or Blackmailing Force: Comparative Perspectives of the

EU Representation in the Serbian Media Coverage

Draft paper2

Abstract

The examination of the visibility of EU affairs in the news coverage has been rather vivid in

recent decades. Previous studies focus mostly on the examination of the EU visibility in the

Western European media settings. Serbia has remained underreported in contemporary

scholarship, although it had gone through deep political and societal changes after breaking

up with the authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milošević and became candidate country for EU

accession in 2012. Given the fact that the Serbian political elite has been oriented towards the

EU integration process during the transition to democracy on one side, and the high level of

political parallelism identified in the national media system on the other, it can be presumed

that the coverage of the EU topics would follow the general political pro-EU orientation. This

paper provides an overview of the EU news coverage in the Serbian media based on the

content analysis of central national newscasts of five television and four radio stations, as

well as five online news portals during a three-month period in 2013. The findings show that

the EU is rarely reported, with the thematic perspectives limited to daily national politics.

However, while the pro-EU voices have been dominantly represented in traditional media

outlets, the Eurosceptic ideas and actors are more visible in the online news coverage. In

national radio and TV newscasts, the EU is represented as a holder of power that positively

influences the future of the country’s EU integration process and as valuable mediator in

contemporary conflicts and problems Serbia would not be able to resolve on its own. The

identification of the EU as blackmailing force and an intruder that tries to degrade the

political actors, the citizens and Serbia as a whole has been detected only in the narrative of

online news portals.

Key words: EU visibility, national media coverage, TV, radio, news web sites, pro-EU

attitudes, EU-scepticism, Serbia

1 Email: aleksandra.krstic@fpn.bg.ac.rs

2 Prepared for the 8

th Pan-European Conference “The Union’s Institutional and Constitutional Transformations:

Stress or Adaptation?”, ECPR Standing Group, Section “Euroscepticism and the Rise of EU Contestation”,

Panel: “Euroscepticism and the Media: New Forms of Online Euroscepticism”, University of Trento, 15-18 June

2016.

2

Introduction

Coverage of the European Union (EU) issues in mass media is criticized to lack

analytical approach (Balčytienė et al., 2009). Official press releases written by spokespersons

of the EU institutions often use bureaucratic and administrative jargon that journalists do not

understand (Tammpuu & Pullerits, 2006: 24). Journalists find it difficult to report on the EU

events because the EU decision-making process is not sufficiently transparent (Meyer, 1999).

The lack of media interest to report on the EU and general deficiency of information about

European topics has been identified as the information deficit. In practice, this deficit has

been shown as a trend of loss of citizens’ interest to vote in the EU elections. The

Eurobarometer survey, carried out just a year before the EU elections in 2014,3 showed that

57% of citizens considered the voting the best way to be heard by decision makers, but the

official data show the turnout in 2014 was at its lowest level (42.54%) since 1979.4

The examination of the visibility of EU topics and affairs in the news coverage has

been rather vivid in recent decades. Previous studies focus mostly on the examination of the

EU visibility in the Western European media settings. For example, countries of the liberal

media system and democratic-corporatist media system are reported to pay less attention to

the EU Parliament elections, unlike countries of the political-pluralized model where more

media attention has been devoted to the EU elections (de Vreese, 2002a). Another study

shows that German media report more frequently on EU topics than other EU countries,

while the UK is mostly reporting on the topic of European and its own currency (Machill et

al., 2005).

The visibility of the EU topics in the Serbian media has remained underreported,

although the country had gone through deep political and societal changes after breaking up

with the authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milošević in 2000 and became candidate country for

EU accession in 2012. Situated in the Western Balkans region, Serbia shares historical,

political and social legacies with other former Yugoslav states that have either became EU

3 European Parliament Eurobarometer (2013) - EB79.5, One year to go until the 2014 European elections –

Institutional Part, Directorate-General for Communication, Public Opinion Monitoring Unit,

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/eurobarometre/2013/election/synth_finale_en.pdf, accessed 10 September

2014.

4 Compared to 1979, when the turnout in European elections was 61.99%, declining turnout trend is present in

all subsequent elections to the EP: over 50% of EU citizens voted at the European elections during the nineties,

while drastic decrease was noted in the 1999 elections. Since then, less than 50% of EU citizens vote in the

European elections and the turnout decreases with each successive election,

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2014-results/en/turnout.html, accessed 15 September 2014.

3

full-members (e.g. Slovenia and Croatia) or have been candidates (e.g. Montenegro and

Macedonia) or potential candidates (e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina) for the EU accession.

However, the research of the EU visibility in the Serbian media has been rare. Therefore, the

aim of this paper is to contribute to contemporary research of the EU coverage in the media

in non-Western settings, examining how the EU topics have been reported in the Serbian

mainstream traditional and online media. Also, given the fact that the country’s political elite

has been oriented towards the EU integration process during the transition to democracy on

one side, and high level of political parallelism identified in the national media system on the

other, it can be presumed that the coverage of EU topics would follow the general political

pro-EU orientation. The other aim of this paper is to examine how the pro-EU and

Eurosceptic ideas and voices have been contested in traditional and online media.

The EU topics is the European media coverage

The EU reporting in the EU member states has been mostly nationally focused

(Bijsmans & Altides, 2007; de Vreese, 2002b; Trenz, 2004). In comparison to the last decade

of the 20th

century, when the EU topics in national media of the Western Europe were

reported occasionally and when the reporting on such events was rather negative in tone

(Norris, 2000), the tempo and tone of the EU reporting had changed. According to de Vreese

(2001: 284), there are two types of EU news: those covering EU events, such as summits,

elections and EU institutions, and those covering national political and economic events with

EU dimension.

However, when media report on important political events, such as the European

Parliament elections or summits of the EU leaders, these topics are not dominant in the media

agenda. Comparative cross-national study on the EU politics in television news coverage in

five EU countries has shown that the share of EU stories was lower than 5% level in

comparison to other news, with exception of Denmark (Peter et al., 2003: 314). However, the

authors identified “invisible importance” of the EU news in television coverage, a paradox

regarding the combination of rare EU reporting and at the same time its highly prominent

positions in news programs. Although considered important and placed as leading news in

majority of TV newscasts in five examined EU states, the news on the EU are differently

evaluated. The study shows that the EU has been depicted neutrally in most of the analyzed

stories, but explicit evaluations of the EU have been found in France, Germany and the

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Netherlands, whereas negative evaluations of the EU were more often in Dutch and French

TV coverage (Peter et al., 2003: 319).

Other studies suggest that communication strategies of EU institutions do not fulfil

journalistic expectations, since journalists find the EU institutions’ procedures too

complicated and not understandable (Bijsmans & Altides, 2007). According to Meyer (1999),

journalists find the EU reporting difficult because the EU decision-making process lacks

transparency. Comparative study in eleven European countries (Balčytienė & Vinciūnienė,

2010) acknowledged the main problems journalists face when reporting on the EU affairs:

selection of news, moment the EU topic should be broadcasted or published, reporting about

complex information in an understandable way and the lack of knowledge about EU topics.

Majority of journalists in Europe report on the EU mostly from national perspectives and

according to established national journalistic practices (Adam, 2007; Statham, 2008; Pfetsch

et al., 2008; Semetko et al., 2000).

De Vreese (2001: 287) distinguishes external and internal factors influencing

journalists when reporting on EU affairs. External factors regard political system of the

country and the government’s overall orientation towards the EU integration, while internal

factors relate to editorial policies, as well as “journalistic effort invested in covering an

issue/event in terms of staff, resources, and research”. Building on the three dimensions

shaping the EU news coverage, i.e. campaign coverage set-up, editorial approach and news

selection criteria (2001: 287), de Vreese examined the visibility of specific EU events

occurred between 1999 and 2000 in Dutch, Danish and UK television programs. The results

of this study have shown that general visibility of the EU was at low level, and that public

broadcasters in the three countries devoted more time to specific EU events than private TV

stations.

Other authors examine visibility of specific EU institutions in the news coverage.

Gattermann (2013) found that the reporting on the EU Parliament in six European countries is

regular and mostly following the EU Parliament calendar. However, in comparison to other

Brussels-based institutions, i.e. the EU Commission, EU Council, Council of the EU and the

NATO, the EU Parliament may remain less visible in the media and not interesting to report

about because of its complex structure, complicated procedures and the lack of debates in

parliamentary sessions (Morgan, 1999; Baisnée, 2003). The analysis of media coverage of the

EU Commission in Dutch and German print media shows that official press releases of the

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Commission and the media in the two countries have different approach to certain EU issues,

such as the EU enlargement and environment policies (Bijsmans & Altides, 2007).

The EU reporting has been also examined from the aspect of its influence on the

public support for the EU enlargement and EU integration processes. Schuck and de Vreese

(2006: 11) identified two characteristic news frames in media reporting on EU enlargement,

whereas the fist relates to the EU enlargement as an opportunity, and the second as the risk

for Europe. In that sense, the authors found that the reporting on EU enlargement is balanced

in coverage, but also argue that balance is not stable and that public opinion on the EU may

shift in line with one of the two frames emphasise in the press coverage. Also, the results of

this study shows that citizens with low level of political knowledge are likely to be more

influenced by news framing of the EU than those with high level of political education

(Schuck & de Vreese, 2006: 20). Political sophistication has therefore been identified as a

“positive predictor of support for EU integration” (de Vreese & Boomgaarden, 2006: 430).

Scharkow and Vogelgesang (2010) comparatively examined the media effects in relation to

the citizens’ knowledge about the EU politics in the old and new member states and

concluded that majority of well informed respondents have shown positive attitudes towards

the EU integration. Authors acknowledged the importance of national media outlets and their

effects on the general public knowledge on the EU politics (Scharkow & Vogelgesang, 2010:

84) and pointed out the effects which biased and mostly positive EU media coverage may

have on public opinion. Focusing on political cynicism about the EU politics as specific

element of Euroscepticism and the role of news media in shaping the public support for EU

integration, de Vreese (2007: 280) argues that the media play significant role in “both

fuelling and reducing Euroscepticism”.

The EU in the media of the Western Balkans region

Representation of the EU in the media of the Western Balkans states has been rarely

researched. Previous quantitative and qualitative studies on the EU coverage in the former

Yugoslav states show great similarities in thematic structures, sources of information and

general treatment of EU affairs. Most authors agree that the elitist approach towards the topic

of Europeanization prevails in the media in the region (Valić Nedeljković & Kleut, 2013;

BBC Media Action, 2012).

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The topic of Europeanization is in the focus of many print and broadcast media in the

region. The media in Bosnia and Herzegovina rarely report on the EU issues, following the

mainstream political agenda and mainly covering “protocol visits of the EU officials, without

more complex journalistic engagement that would provide better understanding of the EU

topics to wider audience” (Turčilo & Buljubašić, 2013: 84). The Montenegrin media report

on the EU mostly through positive coverage of the EU enlargement and the issues of the fight

against corruption, where the most represented voices come from the EU institutions rather

than state authorities (Ružić & Rabrenović, 2013: 94, 98). Similar patterns of reporting have

been identified in Macedonian media, where the EU is covered from the political and

institutional aspect and where citizens’ perspective is represented in only 2% of the overall

media coverage (Donev et al., 2013). Stories on the EU in the Serbian media lack human

approach and have mostly represented political and economic procedures without critical or

in-depth analysis (Milinkov et al., 2013). Although Croatia became the EU full member-state

in July 2013, some studies (e.g. Krajina, 2013) suggest that TV advertisements produced and

broadcasted during the pre-accession period were not balanced in content, focusing more on

advantages of the EU accession.

Examination of journalistic perceptions on the production of EU news in Serbia has

been rare. Krstić and Milojević (2013) argue that Serbian journalists working in local and

regional media outlets rarely use EU institutions as sources of information and mostly rely on

information obtained from local and national government. Also, their thematic scope in the

EU reporting is limited to coverage of EU-funded projects, political aspects of the Serbia-EU

negotiation process and the harmonization of legislation (Krstić & Milojević, 2013).

The Serbian mediascape and socio-political context of EU integration

The Serbian media have gone through several phases of development since the

nineties. After the fall of authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000, the

country’s transition to democracy had started. At the same time, the reforms of the media

industry began, especially the transformation of state television into the public service. The

two main media legislative documents, adopted between 2002 and 2003, were the Law on

Public Informing and the Broadcast Act. However, the new political elite established to

maintain the country’s transition to democracy during the first years after the break up with

the authoritarian rule had been criticized to have completely neglected the democratic

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transition of the media. Therefore, “a consistent media policy has not been maintained”

(Veljanovski & Surčulija, 2014: 265) in more than a decade since the transition to democracy

started in Serbia.

Slow transition to democracy and economically insecure media market influenced the

media development in Serbia. The country’s media market is recognized as overcrowded5

with numerous print, radio and television outlets and growing news web portals (Milivojević

et al. 2012). However, during the past decade, more than 50 magazines and newspapers have

been shut down, while five major foreign investors withdrew from the media sector. Several

local and regional TV stations ended their broadcasts because they were unable to fulfil

financial obligations to competent state regulatory agencies (Krstić, 2012). Moreover, the

media in Serbia have been reported to be heavily susceptible to various political and

economic pressures (IREX, 2013; Krstić, 2016), similarly to practices of clientelism detected

in Central and Eastern European media (see for example Örnebring, 2013, Štětka, 2013).

Regular public opinion polls, conducted by the Office for EU integration of the

Serbian Government, show that citizens are not sufficiently informed about the EU. In

comparison to previous years, the decline of citizens’ knowledge about the EU accession has

been also detected, although 54% of population support the country’s future EU

membership.6 For example, citizens think

7 that the EU membership would bring more

problems than benefits, particularly in regards to agricultural production, loss of national

identity, language and currency. Citizens are more oriented towards the concrete benefits they

would be provided by the EU membership. For example, young people in Serbia consider

visa liberalization and economic prosperity as positive effects of the EU integration, while

loss of national identity and pressures from the EU during the process are negatively

perceived (Radović, 2009: 89-92). Radović (2009: 71) argues that public perceptions of the

EU in Serbia have been influenced by three dominant factors: the legacy of ambivalent and

5 Beside 591 print media, 214 radio stations, 3 news agencies and 107 news web portals, there are 134 TV

stations in Serbia (IREX, 2013:116).

6 Blic news (2/1/2015.): Research: We want the EU, but do not know how the negotiations are being developed.

http://www.blic.rs/Vesti/Politika/523817/ISTRAZIVANJE-Zelimo-u-EU-ali-ne-znamo-kako-idu-pregovori,

Accessed 5 January.2015.

7 The EU integration Office, the Government of Serbia, (2012). EU orientation of the citizens of Serbia.

http://www.seio.gov.rs/upload/documents/nacionalna_dokumenta/istrazivanja_javnog_mnjenja/istrazivanje_dec

_2012.pdf, Accessed 10 April 2013.

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strong ethnic discourse from the 90-ties, public messages mediated by the country’s political

elites and perceptions of Serbia outside its borders. This resulted in inconsistent, often

ambivalent and sporadic public debate on the EU integration process in the country, where

positive attitudes towards the EU are considered superficial.

The Serbian political officials and the Government have been dedicated to maintain

the country’s path towards the EU accession. At the same time, the European Union has been

determined to take part in the most important political, economic and societal reforms of the

country. The period chosen for this research (from early September to the end of November

2013) has been shaped by various political activities in both Serbia and Brussels, such as the

negotiations between Belgrade and Priština taking place in Brussels, which have resulted in

signing of the “Brussels Agreement”. Also, the implementation of the Stabilization and

Association Agreement (SAA), as well as the beginning of negotiations on the Serbia’s EU

accession has been discussed.

During the period of this research, the Government of Serbia was led by the Serbian

Progressive Party (SNS) and the coalition around Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Those

parties have been oriented towards the EU integration process. However, it has to be noted

that both parties and their leaders had risen from rather EU-sceptic and anti-EU historical

legacies. The SNS was formed by former right-wing leaders of Serbian Radical Party (SRS)

Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić, who have distanced from their leader Vojislav

Šešelj in 2008, while Šešelj was in the Hague Tribunal convicted for war crimes during the

civil wars in the Balkans. Both Nikolić and Vučić, once anti-Europeanists, quickly changed

their radical right-wing politics and became pro-European oriented politicians. At the time of

the research, Vučić was the vice-president of the Serbian Government. Ivica Dačić, president

of Socialist Party of Serbia and elected Prime Minister during the period of this study, was

one of the closest associates of the former authoritarian leader Slobodan Milošević. After

Milošević died in the Hague Tribunal in 2006, Dačić was elected the SPS’s president. He

revised the party’s politics and became one of the most pro-European oriented leaders in

Serbia. The major Eurosceptic political party at the time of the research was the Democratic

Party of Serbia (DSS), led by former Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica. The party

had won 21 seats in the Parliament after the elections held in 2012. Since Serbian Radical

Party had not managed to win seats in the Parliament, the DSS was the only political party at

the time that had strongly opposed EU integration of Serbia. All other parties represented in

the Parliament had been pro-EU oriented.

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Method

For the purpose of this study, the quantitative content analysis has been conducted.

The main unit of analysis is the EU topic in the central newscasts of five national television

and four national radio stations, as well as four news web sites in Serbia during September-

November 2013.8 The units of analysis were selected on the basis of random sampling of

general newscasts broadcasted once a week during the 3-month period. Therefore, total of 12

days of each radio and TV newscasts were analyzed, as well as main news published on

online news sites.9 Total of 130 units of analysis were analyzed. TV and radio stations were

sampled according to the official list of licensed broadcasters determined by the Regular

Authority for Electronic Media in Serbia and based on the following criteria: 1) to broadcast

informative program, and 2) to have national coverage. News web sites were selected on the

basis of the two main criteria: 1) to have been approved by editorial board (have editors

responsible for published content) and 2) to exist only online, i.e. they are not web sites of

traditional news media.

National TV stations sampled for the purposes of this research are highly rated Public

Broadcasting Service (Radio Television of Serbia) First Channel and four private TV

stations: TV B92, TV Pink, TV Happy and TV Prva. The sampled national radio stations are

the Radio Belgrade First Channel (public broadcaster) and three private radio broadcasters

Radio B92, Radio Index and Radio S. News web portals sampled are: Južne vesti, Telegraf,

Dnevno, Mondo and E-novine.

The analysis of each TV newscast took into account various TV formats: news read

by the presenter, TV story with journalistic comment and pictures, or soundbites of selected

interviewees. The beginning and the end of each TV story were determined by the presenter’s

appearance (the story begins with the intro read by presenter and ends with the presenter in

the shot). In cases where news are linked and not interrupted by the presenter’s appearance,

the new story was determined by the changes of the names of journalists in longer news

8 This period for research was chosen as the period of regular political activities, when neither the EU nor

national parliamentary elections were held.

9 Central newscasts of TV and radio stations and daily online news were selected in cycles in order to include all

days in the week during the selected period: different days during the 12 weeks were analyzed (during the first

week news published on Monday, during the second week news published on Tuesday, etc.)

10

sequence. In radio newscasts, several formats were analyzed: the news read by the presenter,

radio package, soundbites of various interviewees. The news published on web portals were

analyzed according to the EU topics published within informative columns such as “News”,

“Serbia”, “Belgrade”, “Region”, “Info”, “Politics”, “Society”, and “Economy”.

For the purpose of the research, a codebook was designed to analyze the selected

news items determined as EU topics, covering both the content and the forms of its

distribution: 1) thematic structure, prominent voices, sources of information and evaluation of

the EU, and 2) journalistic genres and formats of distribution (news report, reportage,

interview, vox-pops, soundbite, debate, radio or TV package, or commentary).

Results

The results of the content analysis are presented for each group of media sampled for

the purposes of this research and then compared.

EU topics in national TV newscasts in Serbia

The content analysis of newscasts in five sampled national TV stations during a three-

month period has shown that out of 850 TV stories only 39 EU topics were broadcasted.

Therefore, only 4.58% of the overall three-month newscasts were identified to have the EU

coverage. The EU topics are covered mainly as political news and events, particularly dealing

with the Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels, where representatives of the Serbian and

Kosovo10

negotiating teams held several rounds of dialogue with the EU as the main mediator

in the current dispute. Other political issues covered in news are the EU Commission

Progress report on Serbia’s EU integration process, the beginning of EU-Serbia accession

negotiations, harmonization of legislation with the EU standards, the implementation of the

Stabilization and Association Agreement and the possibility of re-introducing of the visa

regime due to increased number of illegal immigrants coming from Serbia. Economic issues

are mostly reported through stories about the customs duties on the import of cigarettes from

the EU, problems of unemployment or overall economic progress in the EU integration

process. Social issues are only sporadically covered, mainly as news related to the EU

10

The reference to Kosovo in this paper does not represent personal views of the author on the Kosovo status,

but is presented according to the UN 1244 Resolution.

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support for human and minority rights in the context of Pride parade organization various or

manifestations held during the European Heritage Days (see Table 1).

Table 1. Thematic structure of the EU topics in national TV newscasts

Thematic structure Representation in the overall

coverage on the EU

Harmonization of legislation with EU standards 10,53%

Visa regime 13,15%

European cultural legacy 2,63%

Pride parade 5,26%

Serbian progress in the EU integration process 13,15%

Serbia-EU negotiations 7,90%

Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe 7,90%

Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels 28,95%

Stabilization and Association Agreement 2,63%

Economy 7,90%

Total 100%

The variables related to voice indicate who has access to the media by being presented

with a direct or indirect quote. The most prominent actors were coded in each EU topic in TV

newscasts. The results show (see Table 2) that the most prominent quoted actors are the

Serbian Prime Minister, EU Parliament officials and the High Representative of the EU for

Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The other voices heard are those of the Serbian minister

for EU integration, the Serbian President, the Kosovo Prime Minister and the Serbian Deputy

Prime Minister. The citizens of Serbia are almost invisible in the EU coverage. The EU

Commission and the EU Council-Council of the EU officials are rarely interviewed, as well

12

as the EU member-states representatives, or the representatives of the Serbian Military and

the NGOs in the country. Interestingly, the EU Parliament officials are more quoted than

representatives of other EU institutions, which can be explained in regards to the dominant

thematic structure of all sampled national TV newscasts. One of the dominant issues

discussed during the analyzed period was the possibility of reintroducing visa regime for

Serbian citizens, which was raised in the EU Parliament. Also, the issue of harmonization of

national legislation with the EU standards was directly related with the EU Parliament.

Therefore, the TV stations mostly broadcast the quotes of EU Parliament officials in regards

to both topics.

Considering the most dominant topic of the Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels,

the most prominent actor directly or indirectly quoted is the Serbian Prime Minister.

However, the other sides in this dialogue (i.e. Kosovo PM and EU High Representative for

Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) were far less represented than the Serbian PM. This

suggests that national TV newscasts, when reporting on political issues of the EU integration

process, are more focused on national political representatives and keep prioritizing them

throughout the coverage in comparison to other actors involved in the certain issue.

Table 2. The most prominent actors directly or indirectly quoted in the EU topics in national

TV newscasts

Actor Representation in the

overall coverage on the EU

President of EU Council 2,13%

EU Commission officials 2,13%

EU Parliament officials 10,64%

Minister for EU integration of the Serbian Government 8,51%

Chief of the EU Delegation in Serbia 8,51%

Prime Minister of Serbia 29,78%

Agricultural producers in Serbia 2,13%

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President of Serbia 8,51%

Vice president of the Serbian Government 4,25%

Kosovo Prime Minister 6,38%

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security

Policy

10,64%

Representatives of the EU member states 2,13%

Representatives of the Serbian military corps 2,13%

Nongovernmental organizations 2,13%

Total 100%

The most frequent source of information is the Government of Serbia, followed by the

EU institutions (see Figure 1). Other sources are mainly national political institutions, i.e. the

Office of the Serbian President, the embassies of the EU member-states and the EU

delegation in Serbia.

Figure 1. Sources of information in the EU coverage of national TV stations

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The EU topics are mostly reported as short news (26%) and reports (72%), while

analytical approach to the EU issues distributed in more complex TV package is detected in

only 2% of the sampled newscasts. Overall evaluation of the EU is dominantly positive

(56.41%) and neutral (43.59%), while negative or critical approach has not been found.

Previous research have shown that, although the EU topics are less covered in

national print and electronic media in comparison to other national or local issues, they are

considered important in TV programs and political columns of newspapers (Peter et al.,

2003). The results of this content analysis show that 60% of the EU topics are often

positioned in the first ten minutes of central TV newscasts, and 43% of those are even

considered as breaking news.

EU topics in national radio newscasts

National radio stations broadcasted 404 stories during the three-month period, where

only 22 were regarded to as the EU topics, i.e. 5.44% of total news coverage. There are no

significant differences found between national TV and radio newscast in the thematic

structure of the EU reporting. The topics are regarded to daily politics and activities of the

highest country’s officials, such as the Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels, harmonization

of national legislation and the EU Commission Progress report on Serbia. Compared to EU

coverage in TV newscasts, radio stations report in very limited scope, where all analyzed

stories are political and lack economic, cultural or other societal aspects of EU integration

(see Table 3).

Table 3. Thematic structure of the EU topics in national radio newscasts

Thematic structure Representation in the

overall coverage on the EU

Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels 68,2%

Harmonization of legislation with EU standards 9,10%

Serbian progress in the EU integration process 22,7%

Total 100%

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The actors directly or indirectly quoted are representatives of the Serbian

Government, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and President

of the EU Council. The most frequently quoted political actor is the Serbian PM, whose

quotes take up more than half of all soundbites broadcasted in radio newscasts (see Table 6).

Table 4. The most prominent actors directly or indirectly quoted in the EU topics in national

radio newscasts

Actor Representation in the overall

coverage on the EU

Serbian Prime Minister 52,7%

Serbian minister for EU integration 5,2%

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security

Policy

31,7%

President of EU Council 5,2%

Political analysts 5,2%

Total 100%

In comparison to national TV newscasts, radio stations use EU institutions more as

sources of information. However, radio journalists generally rely on limited number of

sources of information: except from the EU institutions (64%) and the Serbian government

(36%), no other sources have been identified in the sampled stories. EU topics in radio

newscasts are mostly short news and reports, while only 4.54% of the analyzed stories are

analytic in approach or distributed as radio package. Also, similarly to TV coverage, the EU

stories are evaluated in more neutral (60%) and positive (40%) way, without negative or

critical attitudes. The majority of radio stories (77%) on EU affairs are positioned in the first

half of analyzed programs.

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EU topics in news web portals

During the period of research, 69 EU topics were published in five sampled web

portals, which represent 4.32% of the total news (n=1596) published. The thematic structure

of the EU coverage in news web portals is more diversified than those of national radio and

TV programs. Beside political events covered by other sampled media, web portals go further

in the EU coverage and report on other events and topics regarding the EU. Therefore, news

web sites publish articles on EU integration of the countries in the region, human rights

issues, economic problems of the EU member states, media legislation issues in context of

the EU accession, etc. Online media also deal with the question of the role of Serbian military

in the EU peace missions and the improvement of health care and the food safety. Less

covered are the issues regarding the EU citizens’ opinion on the war in Syria, the future of

Serbia’s EU accession after the German elections, the problems of Serbian immigrants in the

EU, Hungarian Constitution affected by the EU pressures, the suspension of EU funds for

Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU sanctions regarding Croatia, Ukrainian decision to give up

on the SAA, etc. Diversification of topics published in online media suggests that the web EU

news are not limited to daily national politics and Serbia-EU relations, but represent wider

thematic scope of the EU related issues in regional and European perspective (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Thematic structure of the EU topics in news web sites (the most prominent topics)

17

The actors covered in the web news coverage (see Table 5) are the EU Commission

officials, political officials of the EU member states, Serbian PM, EU High Representative

for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Serbian ministers and members of the Serbian team

in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue. Online media also tend to quote representatives of civil

organizations, political analysts, economic experts, citizens, political officials of Russia and

Ukraine, EU Parliament and European Court for Human Rights. Interestingly, the

interviewees from the Office of the President of Serbia, municipal governments and EU

integration minister of the Serbian government are less quoted than officials of EU

institutions. Also, in comparison to TV and radio newscasts, where one-sided reporting on the

Belgrade-Priština relations dominates, web portals have quoted the Kosovo president on the

issue. The NATO representatives are quoted in relation to the EU accession criteria, i.e.

dilemma whether the NATO membership is one of the conditions for Serbia’s accession in

the EU.

Table 5. The most prominent actors directly or indirectly quoted in the EU topics in news

web sites

Actor Representation in the overall

coverage on the EU

City or municipal government 2,6%

EU Commission officials 19,7%

EU member states officials 13,6%

Political analysts 4,9%

Serbian Minister for EU integration 1,2%

Serbian team in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue 6,1%

Serbian Prime Minister 13,6%

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security

Policy

8,7%

18

President of Serbia 1,2%

European Centre for Peace and Development 1,2%

Ministers of Serbian Government 6,1%

EU Parliament officials 2,6%

Political officials from Russia 3,7%

Hungarian minority in Vojvodina province 1,2%

Citizens of Serbia 1,2%

Economic experts 2,6%

The Government of Republika Srpska 1,2%

The EU Policy centre 1,2%

Pharmaceutical industry in Serbia 1,2%

Kosovo President 1,2%

European Court for Human Rights 1,2%

Ukrainian officials 2,6%

NATO 1,2%

Total 100%

The Government of Serbia and EU institutions are most frequently used sources of

information (see Figure 3). The EU Commission and the Council of the EU are used more

than some national political institutions, whereas the EU Parliament is within the top five

sources. EU topics are also reported on the basis of other sources of information, such as the

EU member-states embassies in Serbia, the government of countries in the region, civil

organizations, municipal governments, University of Belgrade, public companies, the Office

of the Serbian President, the NATO and Kosovo political institutions.

19

Figure 3. Top five sources of information in the EU coverage of news web sites

Web EU topics are mostly represented in forms of short news, reports or interviews.

Analytical articles are not found in the sampled web news. Neutral attitude towards the EU

topics is dominant in web news (68%). However, unlike TV and radio newscasts, negative

and critical evaluation of certain EU issues has been presented (15%). The sampled news web

sites represent negative or rather critical attitudes on the issues of Pride parade, Kosovo’s EU

integration process, Belgrade-Priština dialogue in Brussels when the Kosovo president is

quoted, as well as when the Hungarian ethnic minority issues in the province of Vojvodina

are being reported in context of EU accession.

Discussion

The content analysis has shown that TV and radio stations tend to positively portray

the overall EU integration process, while online media criticize certain aspects and actors in

the process. Therefore, it can be argued that TV and radio newscasts mainly represent pro-EU

voices and aspects of Serbia’s accession in the EU, while Eurosceptic ideas and attitudes are

likely to be found in more diversified thematic EU coverage in news web portals.

The EU institutions are mostly represented as places of important meeting and events

or as decision-makers powerful to influence the future of the country’s EU integration. The

most important EU institutions for the Serbian mainstream media are the EU Commission,

20

EU Parliament and EU Council-Council of the EU. However, when reported, these

institutions are mostly positively portrayed in the TV and radio newscasts and described as

“places where crucial decisions about Serbia’s future are being made” (RTS), or as powerful

political bodies “supporting better quality of life for the Serbian citizens” (TV B92).

However, the decisions being made in EU institutions are not further analyzed in TV or radio

stories, but only represented as short information. Such reporting manner is particularly

visible in the media reporting on Belgrade-Priština dialogue, Serbia-EU negotiations and the

EU Commission Progress report on Serbia. Although positively representing the Serbia’s

efforts to fulfil all necessary conditions for EU accession on one side, and the “good will” of

the EU to support the country, the EU remains presented in an abstract level as “Brussels” or

“Serbia’s important partner” in building of better future. Journalists do not examine topics

beyond positive attitudes expressed by frequently quoted voices or try to contest such pro-EU

attitudes with other relevant voices in the society that might not be necessarily determined as

Eurosceptic .

The EU coverage in the Serbian media shows mostly positive representation of the

efforts of national political officials to improve the EU accession negotiations, to solve

current disputes or to represent national interests before the EU institutions. Such approach is

rather biased in portraying the conflict situation where only national and supranational

perspectives have been positively covered, while the other side of the dispute (e.g. Kosovo

institutions) are not given voice or being objectively represented. In this sense, the EU in

general is described as valuable mediator in the conflict resolution, decision-maker “acting on

the Serbian side” (TV Prva), or as political and financial source of power that has been

influencing the country’s future. Although journalists often use EU institutions as sources of

information, such topics are largely covered from national perspective. The media attention is

focused on general news reporting and heavily relying on information presented by the

Government, without deeper analysis. Majority of news is not initiated by editors or

journalists, but simply followed in organized events based on daily agenda of the most

important political institutions. Therefore, TV and radio coverage of the EU is mostly

descriptive in nature, shallow and superficial, lacking comparative perspective and further

analysis. It can be argued that national TV and radio stations, when reporting on the EU,

heavily depend on domestic political institutions, i.e. the Government and local political

authorities. This argument can be also interpreted in line with the position of the EU news in

national programs, because majority of TV and radio news-editors decide to broadcast the EU

21

topics as breaking news. Following mainstream political agenda, the media coverage is

shaped by current events related exclusively to Serbia-EU relations or inner political

problems the country would not be able to solve on its own.

The voices represented in the coverage also influence editorial decision to broadcast

the EU topic as the most important news. For example, the Belgrade-Priština dialogue is

relevant from the aspect of the current inner-political conflict, territorial integrity of the

country and its future borders, but is not presented as relevant for the general audience. None

of analyzed TV and radio stories is examined further from procedural aspects. Citizens are

not heard in such coverage, but mostly the prime minister, relevant ministers and the

members of the country’s negotiating team. These actors only convey the messages regarding

the negotiations in Brussels, without interpreting them in more understandable socio-political

context.

Therefore, the EU news covered by the Serbian media is rare, but breaking, mostly

politically and nationally focused, talked about by the highest political officials and positively

or neutrally covered. High political parallelism between political actors and the mainstream

broadcast media in Serbia is highly visible in the EU coverage, where the media act as

mediators of general pro-EU orientation of the government and tend to positively describe

EU integration process, without critically examining decisions made by the government or

the EU itself.

Although web news sampled for this research share many characteristics in EU

reporting with national radio and TV stations, they show some aspects of criticism and

negative, anti-EU and Eurosceptic attitudes and ideas. The thematic structure of the web

news is wider than those of the national TV and radio programs. The Europceptic voices

represented in the online news are not as prominent as pro-European voices of national and

EU political officials, but they are to an extent visible. Interestingly, only the sampled online

media decided to publish the Serbia’s Prime Minister’s quote criticizing the EU for not

reacting when Kosovo’s government decided not to allow the Serbian PM to enter Kosovo in

October 2013. The “Telegraf” portal published the Serbia’s PM quote: “Some EU member-

states’ representatives sent me the message that I could not be the one to blackmail the

European Union. People, wake up! We were denied to enter Kosovo! Firstly decide about

that, and then you can deal with my blackmailing. If the EU thinks this is normal, then I am

not longer interested to participate in the dialogue” (Telegraf, October 2013). This web site

also published the Prime Minister’s questions regarding the “Brussels credibility” in

22

Belgrade-Priština dialogue, as well as quotations regarding personal and national

“humiliation” after being denied to travel to Kosovo and after the EU as the mediator in the

conflict dialogue had not reacted. However, this discourse maintained by the Serbian PM is

soft Euroscepticism (Taggart & Szczerbiak, 2001), as he had been leading the pro-European

government supporting the Serbia’s EU accession and future membership, but was concerned

about particular reactions and behaviour of the EU in relation to the preservation of national

interests.

The hard Eurosceptic voices represented in the news web portals are solely those of

the representatives of the opposition party Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). Interestingly,

other actors that share hard Eurosceptic ideas, such as the Serbian Radical Party, several

NGOs and civic movements in the country at the time of the research, were not given voice in

the sampled coverage. In comparison to national TV and radio broadcasts, where Eurosceptic

ideas could not be heard, the web news published several articles with the DSS

representatives talking about specific topics. For example, in the eve of Pride Parade 2013,

which was planned to be held in Belgrade, the municipal representative of the DSS heavily

accused the EU for “financing the organization of the Shame Parade” and investing severe

amounts of money in “political support, blackmails and pressures” (Telegraf, October 2013).

Similar discourse has been used by this political party in relation to the government of

Serbia and its “desperate wish to ingratiate itself to the EU” (Vladeta Janković, the president

of the Political Council of Democratic Party of Serbia, Telegraf and E-novine, November

2013). The Brussels Agreement, signed by Kosovo and Serbian authorities in Brussels, has

been labelled as “the biggest national betrayal of Serbia”, while the Prime Minister and the

vice-president of Serbian government have been addressed as “dilettantes” and “not very

serious people”, because the dialogue with the EU on Kosovo issue has been led according to

the system “you give us power and EU membership, we will give you Kosovo instead”.

These lines were published on two of the five analyzed news web sites, representing rather

negative portrayal of the EU in regards to its utilization of power to blackmail the Serbian

government. However, such attitudes and voices of the opposition party could have not been

seen and heard in the analyzed mainstream TV and radio newscasts.

Going further in opposing the EU integration process, the DSS’s antiestablishment

and anti-EU voice was also published in the news web sites (October, November 2013). The

President of the party, Vojislav Koštunica, called the government to break up with EU

integration process, addressing the United Kingdom future referendum on the exit of the UK

23

from the EU, and Island which had already walked out from the EU accession negotiations.

Koštunica was quoted in analyzed web sites: “EU is just the bureaucracy in Brussels and it

does not reflect the voices of its citizens, or the wish of its political parties, but has been

solely fulfilling needs of its Brussels-based bureaucracy” (October, 2013).

Conclusion

Visibility of the EU topics in Serbian mainstream media is low. The EU issues are

mostly covered in national radio (5.44%) and TV newscasts (4.58%), and news web portals

(4.32%). All media outlets share similar approach to the EU coverage, considering thematic

structure, most prominent voices, and sources of information, forms of news distribution and

the position of EU topic in the general coverage. The EU topics are not analytically analyzed,

whereas problems addressed remain only touched and not adequately interpreted to be

understood by the wider audience. Although the EU topics are rarely reported, they often

appear as news of the day. However, the voices of people are not represented in the analyzed

coverage. Concrete aspects of EU integration are marginalized, because the effects of various

aspects of the process are not adequately explained or interpreted. The question “How the

certain issue affects peoples’ lives?” has not been answered in the sampled coverage, since

the overall approach to the EU has been narrowed to political procedures and limited to

uncritical evaluation of the EU as a whole.

Traditional media in Serbia do not contribute to expression of Euroscepticism because

they show large support for pro-EU government politics and marginalize other voices from

the coverage. This suggests that national radio and TV outlets in Serbia are dependent from

the main political agenda of the Serbian government, which heavily shapes the EU reporting

practices. It is not only detected in the approach of public broadcasters, but also in

commercial TV and radio stations that have been mostly positively oriented towards the EU

affairs. News web sites show somewhat different approach, giving space to voices that

represent criticism of EU integration or even explicit EU-sceptic attitudes. Having been

denied access to mainstream radio and TV newscasts, the EU-sceptic voices, questioning

certain actions of the EU institutions or maintaining continuous negative evaluation of the EU

as a political project, became visible only in the online media. However, the online presence

of such voices or attitudes cannot largely influence overall evaluation of the EU, because they

24

have been limited to only one political party and occasional criticism imposed by the Prime

Minister.

The EU reporting in the Serbian media is therefore mostly oriented to conventional

news about decision-making processes, EU funds and the role of the EU in mediating

national disputes. Even when the topics relate to issues of economy, education, culture, health

care, protection of environment or political problems of other countries in the region, they

have been primarily produced to inform, and not to explain or initiate larger public debates.

The approach to the EU affairs in newscast of national radio and TV stations and online

media is therefore national, and according to the EU media reporting classification (Trenz,

2004) can be identified as national news using European discourse and Europeanized news

stressing out the impact of certain EU events on national issues. News on the EU as a whole,

without national aspects covered, have not been found in radio and TV coverage, but exist in

analyzed online media. The overall thematic structure of the analyzed coverage suggests that

the editorial decisions have identified the “EU” of the “EU coverage” phrase only according

to: 1) the place of the event (e.g. Brussels), 2) decisions made in EU institutions which are

directly affecting Serbia and 3) inner-political problems and challenges with strong EU

presence. Although limited in scope and oriented towards national treatment of EU news, this

paper has tried to contribute to academic literature by examining the EU visibility in the

underreported EU candidate country and to interpret how the approach to the EU affairs in

the Serbian media has been built on national pro-EU political agenda and mainstream

political orientation influencing the production and distribution of the EU.

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