Upload
others
View
3
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
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: [email protected]
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
4
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
5
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).
6
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
7
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.
8
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.
9
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.
11
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%
13
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
14
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%
15
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.
16
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.
References
Adam, S. (2007). Domestic Adaptations of Europe: A Comparative Study of the Debates on
EU Enlargement and a Common Constitution in the German and French Quality Press.
International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 19(4): 409-433.
Baisnée, O. (2003). The (non-)coverage of the European Parliament. In: Bond, M. (ed.),
Europe, Parliament and the Media. London: The Federal Trust for Education and Research,
pp. 77–104.
Balčytienė, A. & Vinciūnienė, A. (2010). Assessing Conditions for the Homogenisation of
the European Public Sphere: How Journalists Report, and Could Report, on Europe, in: Bee,
25
Cristiano and Bozzini, Emanuela (eds.), Mapping the European Public Sphere. Institutions,
Media and Civil Society. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., pp. 141-158.
Balčytienė, A., Auškalnienė, L., Birbilaitė, I. & Vinciūnienė, A. (2009). Localizing global
political matters through new media: some reflections on communication culture, Baltic
Journal of Law & Politics, 2(2): 165-180.
BBC Media Action (2012). EU in the Serbian media. http://www.europa.rs/mediji/najnovije-
vesti/1425/Evropska+unija+u+o%C4%8Dima+doma%C4%87ih+medija+.html
Bijsmans, P. & Altides, C. (2007). Bridging the Gap between EU Politics and Citizens? The
European Commission, National Media and EU Affairs in the Public Sphere. European
Integration, 29(3): 323–340.
de Vreese, C. & Boomgaarden, H. (2006). Media Effects on Public Opinion about the
Enlargement of the European Union, JCMS, 44(2): 419–436.
de Vreese, C. (2007). A Spiral of Euroscepticism: The Media’s Fault?. Acta Politica, 42:
271–286.
de Vreese, C. H. (2001). Europe in the News - A Cross-National Comparative Study of the
News Coverage of Key EU Events, European Union Politics, 2(3): 283–307.
de Vreese, C. H. (2002a). Framing Europe: Television news and European integration,
Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers
de Vreese, C. H. (2002b). Communicating Europe, „The Next Generation Democracy:
Legitimacy in Network Europe” project, The Foreign Policy Centre and the British Council,
Brussels
Donev, D., Dukov, J., Čalovski, V.; Kamčevska, V. & Trajanovski, N. (2013): Izvestuvanje
za evropeizacijata vo Republika Makedonija. In: Valić Nedeljković, D. & Kleut, Jelena
(eds.), Europe here and there, University of Novi Sad, pp. 105-116.
European Parliament Eurobarometer EB79.5 (2013). One year to go until the 2014 European
elections – Analytical Overview, TNS Opinion
26
Gattermann, K. (2013). News about the European Parliament: Patterns and external drivers of
broadsheet coverage. European Union Politics, 14(3): 436–457.
IREX (2013). Europe and Eurasia Media Sustainability Index, USAID-IREX, Washington
DC
Krajina, Z. (2013). EU nije YU – EU je fora: Analiza predreferendumskih televizijskih
spotova Vlade RH za ulazak Hrvatske u Europsku uniju. Politička misao, 50 (2): 98-123.
Krstić, A. & Milojević, A. (2013). The EU from the perspective of journalists in local Serbian
media. The Yearbook of the Faculty of Political Science (Godišnjak), 7(10): 67-82.
Krstić, A. (2012). Journalism and media industry in Serbia: professional gain, economic loss.
CM, Communication and Management, 24: 115-132.
Krstić, A. (2016). Local television as a business: Comparative perspectives of commercial
television stations in Serbia. Teme, 40 (1): 229-244.
Machill, M., Beiler, M. & Fischer, C. (2005). Europe-topics in Europe’s media: The debate
about the European public sphere: a meta-analysis of media content analyses. European
Journal of Communication, 21(1): 57-88.
Meyer, C. (1999). Political Legitimacy and the Invisibility of Politics: Exploring the
European Union’s Communication Deficit. Journal of Common Market Studies, 37(4): 617–
639.
Milinkov, S., Gajić, Z. & Pavkov, K. (2013). The analysis of media reporting of the
Europeanization in Serbia. In: Valić Nedeljković, D. & Kleut, Jelena (eds.), Europe here and
there, University of Novi Sad, pp.117-127.
Milivojević, S., Radojković, M., Milojević, A., Ugrinić, A., Krstić, A. & Matović, M. (2012).
Profession at the crossroads – journalism on the threshold of information society. The Centre
for Media Research, Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade.
http://centarzamedije.fpn.bg.ac.rs/content-files/Izvestaj%20Publikacija%20-
%20Profesija%20na%20raskrsu%202012.pdf
Morgan, D. (1999). The European Parliament, Mass Media and the Search for Power and
Influence. Aldershot: Ashgate.
27
Norris, P. (2000). A virtuous circle. Political communications in post-industrial societies,
Cambridge University Press
Örnebring, H. (2013). Journalistic Autonomy and Professionalisation. Media and Democracy
in Central and Eastern Europe ,ERC funded project , Pillar 3 – Final Report, An ERC Project
based at the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Oxford in
collaboration with the Department of Media and Communications, The London School of
Economics and Political Science, http://mde.politics.ox.ac.uk/
Peter, J., Semetko, H. A. & de Vreese, C.H. (2003). EU Politics on Television News - A
Cross-National Comparative Study, European Union Politics, 4 (3): 305–327.
Pfetsch, B., Adam, S. & and Eschner, B. (2008). The Contribution of the Press to
Europeanization of Public Debates: A Comparative Study of Issue Salience and Conflict
Lines of European Integration. Journalism, 9(4): 463-490.
Radović, S. (2009). The pictures of Europe/Slike Evrope – Istraživanje predstava o Evropi i
Srbiji na početku XXI veka, Belgrade: Ethnographic Institute SANU
Ružić, N. & Rabrenović, A. (2013). Montenegrin media reporting on EU integration. In:
Valić Nedeljković, D. & Kleut, Jelena (eds.), Europe here and there, University of Novi Sad,
pp. 91-104.
Scharkow, M. & Vogelgesang, J. (2010). Effects of domestic media use on European
integration. Communications, 35(1): 73-91.
Schuck, A. R.T. & de Vreese, C. H. (2006). Between Risk and Opportunity: News Framing
and its Effects on Public Support for EU Enlargement. European Journal of Communication,
21(1): 5-32
Semetko, H. A., de Vreese, C. & Peter, J. (2000). Europeanised Politics – Europeanised
Media? European Integration and Political Communication. West European Politics, 23(4):
121-141.
Statham, P. (2008). Making Europe News: How Journalists View Their Role and Media
Performance. Journalism, 9(4): 398-422.
28
Štětka, V. (2013). Media Ownership and Commercial Pressures, Media and Democracy in
Central and Eastern Europe , ERC funded project , Pillar 1 - Final report, ERC Project based
at the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Oxford in
collaboration with the Department of Media and Communications, The London School of
Economics and Political Science, http://mde.politics.ox.ac.uk/
Taggart, P. & Szczerbiak, A. (2001). The Party Politics of Euroscepticism in EU Member
and Candidate States. Sussex European Institute
Tammpuu, P. & Pullerits, E. (2006). The Case of Estonia, In: AIM Research Consortium
(eds.), Understanding the Logic of EU Reporting in Mass Media. Analysis of EU Media
Coverage and Interviews in Editorial Offices in Europe, Bochum: Projektverlag, pp. 21-32.
Trenz, H. J. (2004). Media Coverage on European Governance Exploring the European
Public Sphere in National Quality Newspapers. European Journal of Communication, 19(3):
291-319.
Turčilo, L. & Buljubašić, B. (2013). The Bosnia and Herzegovina media reporting on the EU
integration. In: Valić Nedeljković, D. & Kleut, Jelena (eds.), Europe here and there,
University of Novi Sad, pp. 81-90.
Valić Nedeljković, D. & Kleut, J. (eds) (2013). Europe here and there. University of Novi
Sad
Veljanovski, R. & Surčulija, J. (2014). Social aspects of the Serbian media laws
harmonization with the EU standards/Društveni aspekti harmonizacije medijskih zakona
Republike Srbije sa evropskim standardima, Sociology Review/Sociološki pregled, XLVIII:
2, pp. 259–285.