Serbia

"Simulated Progress" - Serbia's Commitment to Media Freedom

In its most recent Country Report 2021, the EU Commission attested "limited progress" to the candidate country Serbia with regard to freedom of the press and media. Experts and journalistic professional associations, however, have little to gain from this assessment and speak of "cosmetic changes" at best, to give Europe the impression that something is happening here. In fact, a new "Media Strategy 2020-2025" was adopted by the government in 2019 to improve and secure the threatened freedom of the press.

After a first critical analysis last year regarding the implementation of this strategy  https://www.freiheit.org/western-balkans/step-ahead-or-potemkin-reform-…, journalist Thomas Roser, who has been reporting from Belgrade for 15 years, now presents a second critical analysis of further developments in this area. The result is again disillusioning: there is talk of "simulated progress", but no substantial improvement.