Two Decades of Serbian Media Transformation: Media Capture instead of Media Autonomy

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of the Serbian media landscape over the last two decades, by applying four analytical categories developed for identifying levels of media capture in different national contexts (Dragomir 2019). Implementation of diachronic document analysis provides rich descriptions of the media regulatory capture, grip over public service broadcasters, misuse of state advertising and project based financing of media content, as well as endurance of state media ownership. Therefore, this study identifies some of the reasons behind recent decline of media freedoms in Serbia, adds elements for finding the right place for Serbia on the map of Central and Eastern European post-communist media transformations, and contributes to the growing literature aimed at understanding media capture in its many forms and variations across the globe.