EU Progress Report findings marginalized in the Serbian media
The focus of the media reporting on the European Commission Progress Report was on the positive assessment of the economic indicators, while political criteria with little or no progress were only mentioned, according to the CRTA analysis.
Almost all printed and TV media reported on the EU Progress Report, but it was not the main topic neither in print nor TV media. First, the Report was marginalized by the two dominant news: the Government signing a contract for the construction of the Fruska Gora Corridor with the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and the female candidates for the new Government. Second, marginalisation was also done through news placement policy on TV and in dailies. On TVs, this was done by placing the news on the EU Report to the 4th or 5th place in the central informative programs on four televisions with national frequencies.
The tone of reporting was dominantly neutral in both printed and TV media and the focus was on the positive assessment of the economic indicators, while political criteria with little or no progress were only mentioned.
Articles written in a positive tone were about the EC economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans, and not the EU Progress Report itself.
Srpski telegraf daily and TV Pink both had an article in a negative tone with the same narrative, reporting about EU hypocrisy when assessing police brutality during demonstrations in Belgrade in July this year in the Report.
Danas was the only media outlet that offered some analyses and experts’ opinions about the EU Progress Report.
Only Blic daily had an article about the EU Progress Report on its front page, while the tone of the headline on the front page was neutral emphasising, a positive assessment of the economic indicators and critique of the reform of the justice system.
Analysis of cover and inside pages of print dailies
On the 07th of October, only one printed daily had an article about EC Progress Report on its cover pages. The report was not the main article on the front page in any of the dailies. It was only covered on the cover page in the Blic daily, while the tone of the headline was neutral emphasizing a positive assessment of the economic indicators and critique of the reform of the justice system.
Additionally, daily Politika had, as the main article on a front page, an authorial text given by the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi. The text was connected to EC economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans, and did not mention the EC Progress Report at any point.
During the 6th and 7th of October, CRTA recorded a total of 10 articles about the EC Progress Report on inner pages. Seven out of eight daily newspapers had at least one article about the EC Progress Report. Only Alo! did not inform about the Report at all.
Seven out of 10 articles were focused on the EC Progress Report, while the rest focused on the EC economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans. Six out of 10 articles were in a neutral tone, three in positive and one (in Srpski telegraf) in a negative tone.
All the positive articles were connected to the EC economic and investment plan for Western Balkans, and not the EU Progress Report itself.
In the neutral articles, the focus was on the positive assessment of the economic indicators, while key areas with little or no progress (justice, rule of law, fight against corruption, elections, media, etc) were just mentioned in Politika, Vecernje novosti and Blic dailies.
Srpski telegraf had an article in a negative tone with the following headline “Shameful Blackmail of the EU”. The article highlighted “conditioning Serbia’s progress on its road to the EU by resolving the Kosovo issue according to EU rules”. Two critiques were highlighted in the article: the President’s quotes of the EU at the beginning of Corona crises, and the brutality of Serbian police during the demonstrations in Belgrade in July this year, claiming that in EU countries police brutality was much worse.
Danas was the only daily who had detailed and analytical articles on the EC Progress Report and included political analysts and experts’ opinion about the report.
Only in daily Blic, the article about the EC Progress Report was the main and only news within the two inner pages. In almost all other dailies two other topics were dominant within the two inner pages: female candidates for the new Government or the Government signing a contract for the construction of the Fruska Gora Corridor with the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
Media reporting on TV channels with national frequency on 6th October
TV channels with national television frequency broadcasted a total of nine news about the EC Progress Report within their central informative programs. Seven out of nine had a neutral tone and two, both broadcasted on Pink TV, had a negative tone.
All four televisions with the national coverage reported in neutral tone about the EC Progress Report. The main message was that Serbia stayed committed to European integration and that it has a positive assessment of the economic indicators. Similarly to dailies, key areas with little or no progress (justice, rule of law, fight against corruption, elections, media, etc) were only mentioned without any explanation or analysis.
Pink had two pieces of news in a negative tone. The first had a similar narrative as the one in Srpski telegraf daily and was about EU hypocrisy when commenting on police brutality during demonstrations in Belgrade in July this year. The second one was not directly connected to the EU Progress Report but it was clearly connected to the theme, showing how police across Europe reacted to demonstrations in the other EU countries.
The EC Progress Report was not the main news on the 6th of October in any of the monitored news. It was the fourth news on RTS 1, TV Pink and TV Happy and the fifth on TV Prva. The dominant news for that day was the Government signing a contract for the construction of the Fruska Gora Corridor with the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
EC economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans was mentioned in all TV news.
Two out of four televisions, TV Prva and TV Happy, had news about little or no progress in the EC Progress report for Kosovo.