By Anja Andjusic, MDI Western Balkans Media monitor
Over three months ago, the newly renovated train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, Serbia, killing fifteen people and severely injuring two more. This tragedy sparked a nationwide, student-led movement demanding justice and exposing the corrupt regime. Here’s what’s happening in Serbia and how the media reports on the situation.
Students from Novi Sad, Belgrade, Niš, and other towns marched several days to Kragujevac, for a major protest on February 15th, Serbia’s Statehood Day. Just two weeks ago, Belgrade students marched to Novi Sad for one of the city’s biggest protests, blocking all three bridges to mark three months since the deadly canopy collapse.
Media Manipulations and Institutional Silence
In the aftermath, pro-government media attempted to shift blame, using manipulations and disinformation to claim the canopy was not part of the reconstruction. However, as Insajder reports, investigations revealed high-ranking government officials were involved, and the project, initially contracted for €3.5 million, ultimately cost €16 million, leading the public to suspect that corruption was the real cause of the fall of the canopy. Although government officials pompously opened this train station not once but two times – in March 2022 and last July, it was later revealed that it lacked a license to operate. As the days after the canopy collapse in Novi Sad passed, political accountability and criminal liability were omitted, and collective feelings of loss turned into revolt, leading to mass civil disobedience.
Initial protests erupted in Novi Sad, where many activists, some underage, were arrested. While most were released quickly, five young people spent nearly a month in jail for “violent behaviour at a public gathering.” This only further fueled anger among citizens, as it was made clear the regime was trying to suppress the demand for justice. Citizens started gathering across the country every Friday at 11:52, the time of the collapse, blocking roads for 15 minutes in silent tribute.
Country-wide student blockades
In late November, students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) were physically attacked and injured while paying tribute to the victims. Videos showed the attackers included officials from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Following this, FDU students were the first to block their faculty, demanding the arrest of their attackers. In solidarity, students across Serbia blocked almost all state faculties and universities in the following month. Apart from the prosecution of their attackers, students have three more demands – the publication of the complete documentation on the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, the termination of criminal charges against arrested demonstrators and a budget increase for higher education.
Under immense public pressure, several officials, including ministers, the mayor of Novi Sad and Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned. The government, President Aleksandar Vučić and institutions made efforts towards fulfilling the student’s demands. Yet, students insist their demands remain unmet and that institutions must act according to the law. Since the protests ignited, the movement has gained support from various groups, including university professors, teachers, artists and cultural workers, lawyers, farmers, doctors, and public figures, including tennis player Novak Đoković and singer Madonna.
Media targeting and harmful narratives
Pro-government media vilified activists, students and citizens, labelling them ‘foreign mercenaries’, ‘anti-Serbian’, and ‘extremists’. Through continuous targeting, tabloids accused individuals and groups of ‘working against the state’ and ‘wanting to cause a civil war’. These outlets used manipulations, disinformation and spins in an attempt to target, discredit and intimidate young people. Fact-checking portal Fake News Tragač has documented dozens of cases of media manipulation daily, including efforts to frame the protests as foreign-backed. Many media outlets and government officials exploited nationalist feelings and ethnic division in the Balkans to construct a dominating narrative that the protests are influenced and supported by Croatia and Albania, designed by enemies of Serbia who wish to destabilise the country.
The same narratives were also used against individuals. Portal Novosti published names and photos of the passports of two brothers, students of the University of Belgrade. The headline implied that their Croatian citizenship was “another confirmation of strong Croatian influence in attempts to destabilise Serbia”. The article was later edited, but the damage had been done. Over 130 similar texts in which tabloids presented unfounded information or spread hate speech against those participating in student blockades and protests were removed from their portals. At the request of the website hosting companies they work with, the texts were removed due to violations of terms of use and laws of the European Union and Serbia, as Cenzolovka reported. The portals failed to address, let alone apologise for their wrongdoings to those targeted or to their readers.
Parallel to the media smear campaign, physical attacks on protesters have continued. In Požarevac, a driver hit and carried a protester on his hood while attempting to force through a blockade. President Vučić dismissed the incident, saying, “Someone jumped on his hood because the man wanted to pass by, and now they say let’s arrest the man who was driving the car, maybe. How on earth do you arrest a man who didn’t break the law? He was just going his own way. Are you all in your right mind?”. In two similar attacks, two students were injured when drivers drove into the crowd. While public pressure led to the prosecution of two drivers for aggravated attempted murder, other similar incidents remain unresolved.
Reporting on Public Broadcasting Services
Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) largely ignored the protests and student blockades. As the protests intensified, they would occasionally make the daily news but were usually only briefly mentioned at their very end. Students and the general public, but also media workers themselves, raised their voices criticising public broadcasters for not reporting objectively and professionally on everything going on in the country. Part of RTV workers were the first to condemn the “shameful reporting” of RTV, which hid information about the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad from citizens. Three worker unions at RTV petitioned together for the dismissal of the editor-in-chief, followed by RTS worker unions who asked the same of the news program editorial team. Some public service workers joined the students in their protests on several occasions.
The reporting changed only after the Novi Sad bridge blockade two weeks ago, when RTS broadcast live coverage and interviewed students. Later that day, the ruling party directly targeted RTS for covering protests, calling their reporting “scandalous” and saying they “abused their profession”. Since then, RTS has invited students and professors to debates, yet public services have not acknowledged their previous lack of coverage, as public pressure for accurate and credible reporting continues.
Youth Taking Their Rightful Spot in the Media Lens
As Serbia undergoes political and social shifts, another transformation is evident – the position of youth in the media. For years, research has been showing the same data – the youth are vastly underrepresented in Serbian mainstream media, or negatively portrayed, with stories featuring youth as either victims or perpetrators of crimes and traffic accidents. It is now clear that young voices, their opinions and the problems they face are no longer ignored by the media. Rather, as leaders of the movement, they are lastly in the spotlight.
The polarised and oppressive political, social and media climate in Serbia only highlights the importance of only a few independent media outlets who have reported on the protests, and student blockades professionally and ethically since the beginning. On the front lines are youth media outlets, whose newsrooms are largely made up of students, who not only have direct access to blocked faculties but also a unique peer-to-peer approach when reporting on the situation. Local media, working under immense political pressure for years, were also proven to be a lifeline in providing crucial information for citizens, but also national media, as protests spread to smaller towns and villages across the country.
As protests continue, the resilience of young people and independent media remains key in holding institutions accountable and resisting media manipulations.
