Media Monitoring of Foreign Actors

CRTA’s 2024 media monitoring highlights significant bias in how Serbian media portray foreign actors. While Russia and China are predominantly reported on with a positive tone, the EU, the US, and NATO are mainly presented in a negative light. Key events, such as the Russian presidential elections and the visit of the Chinese president to Serbia, have further reinforced these trends.

Media manipulation plays a significant role in shaping these narratives, with patterns of discrediting the West and affirming the East emerging as dominant. Although the war in Ukraine temporarily diminished positive reporting on Russia, 2024 trends indicate a return to the affirmative tone that dominated before the conflict began. Unlike Russia, China enjoys a consistently positive portrayal in the media, with a slight but steady increase since 2020. Meanwhile, Western actors have been predominantly negatively portrayed for years, solidifying the dichotomy between the positive depiction of the East and the negative framing of the West.

Affirming the East, criticizing the West

CRTA’s monitoring data reveals significant disparities in the frequency of mentions of foreign actors in Serbian media. The United States and Russia dominate media coverage, while the EU, NATO, and China are far less frequently mentioned. This disparity is not accidental; it reflects both current international events and the specific focus of domestic media, which assigns varying importance to these actors. (Graph 1)

A complete picture emerges when examining the tone of reporting. The portrayal of foreign actors in Serbian media is starkly polarized. Russia and China are almost exclusively reported on positively, while the EU, the US, and NATO are frequently depicted negatively. (Graph 2)

International visits as triggers

Data from 2024 highlights the importance of various events in amplifying recorded trends throughout the year. In 2024 CRTA’s media monitoring identified three key events: the Russian presidential elections led to a significant increase in pro-Russian articles, while the Chinese president’s visit to Serbia in May 2024 had a similar effect on pro-Chinese reporting.

On the other hand, although German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit in July 2024 resulted in an increase in articles presenting the EU positively, the overall numbers for the EU were far below the positive coverage observed for Russia and China during their respective peaks (positive coverage: EU – 82 articles vs. Russia – 390 articles, and China – 373 articles). (Graph 3)

The Role of Manipulation

CRTA has long focused on information manipulation in the media landscape. Cross-referencing articles identified as manipulative with their tone suggests an orchestrated attempt to discredit Western actors while glorifying China and Russia. The tone analysis of these articles vividly illustrates the previously observed dichotomy. (Graph 4)

Friends from the East

Although the war in Ukraine initially reduced positive reporting on Russia, as the conflict continued, positive coverage began to approach pre-war levels. Negative reporting on the West has been consistent but intensified after 2021. (Graph 5) 

Unlike Russia, China has enjoyed consistently positive coverage in Serbian media. (Graph 6) Since 2020 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this positive trend has shown a slight but steady increase.

Methodology

CRTA’s media monitoring of foreign influence is conducted daily by a team of well-trained media monitors.

The sample includes:

• Four major newspapers (Blic, Informer, Kurir, and Večernje novosti),
• News published from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM on four leading online portals (blic.rs, b92.net, kurir.rs, and novosti.rs),
• Central news programs and press review segments in morning shows on the most-watched national TV channels (RTS 1, TV Pink, TV Prva, and Happy TV).

The analysis focuses on the tone of reporting on five foreign entities: the EU, the US, NATO, Russia, and China. Reporting tone is measured on a scale ranging from negative to neutral to positive.

• Negative tone reflects unfavorable reporting on foreign subjects.
• Neutral tone involves factual reporting without pejorative or affirmative bias.
• Positive tone reflects affirmative or biased reporting favoring foreign actors.

The unit of analysis is mentions in media texts, while topics analyzed include politics, military, economy, Kosovo, past conflicts (1990-99), culture, human rights, and health.

The total number of media items analyzed from January 1 to September 30, 2024, was 22,201.

You can see the full presentation here.