They spoke well of Putin: American NGOs explained why the Serbian media “lie”
Most Serbian media write positively about Russia and its leader, which, according to the Belgrade Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA, recently awarded the US Defender of Democracy Award), distorts the information picture.
“Our monitoring of the most influential media in Serbia shows that senior officials are not quoted negatively about Russia or China. However, their quotes with a negative tone about the EU, US and NATO are widely present. This does not correspond to the work program of the Serbian government, which states that Serbia’s main strategic goal is to join the European Union,” CRTA program director Raša Nedeljkov told Global Voices.
The study found that the EU, US and China were portrayed neutrally in all types of media in Serbia in 2019, while NATO was portrayed negatively and Russia positively. Experts explain this “paradox” by the fact that the Russian agency Sputnik Serbia is not only popular among Balkan readers, its materials are actively republished by the most popular Serbian media.
According to the pro-Western Serbian "fact-checking" portal Raskrikavanje, more than 2018 "false or unsubstantiated news" were published on the front pages of three Serbian tabloids (Informer, Alo and Srpski Telegraf) in 700. The “falsehood” of these news stories is that they “usually describe Russian President Vladimir Putin in a positive light, for example by claiming that he will “defend Serbia from the West” or that he will “save Kosovo for Serbia.”
Sputnik Serbia materials are even republished by Macedonian and Albanian media.
According to experts, the information danger is posed not only by the news media, but also by popular publications about a healthy lifestyle, since they “use health-related content to promote the image of Vladimir Putin.”
English version :: Read in English: They spoke well of Putin: American NGOs explained why Serbian media are "lying"