{"id":43670,"date":"2025-08-12T12:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crta.rs\/?p=43670"},"modified":"2025-08-12T12:10:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:10:52","slug":"serbia-shifts-narrative-on-the-us-after-trumps-return-to-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crta.rs\/en\/serbia-shifts-narrative-on-the-us-after-trumps-return-to-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia shifts narrative on the US after Trump\u2019s return to power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The longstanding pattern of domestic media favoring countries led by authoritarian leaders continues to shape the tone of reporting in 2025. Since 2017, anti-Western narratives have dominated Serbian media, while pro-Russian and pro-Chinese coverage has remained consistently positive. However, with President Trump\u2019s return to power in the U.S., anti-Western narratives are now reserved for the EU, while the tone toward the U.S. has shifted abruptly from predominantly negative to positive.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Donald Trump, a politician with a distinctly authoritarian approach to governance, once again became U.S. President, Serbian media coverage of America has grown increasingly favorable, surpassing the anti-American narrative for the first time. Meanwhile, China and Russia continue to be portrayed consistently in a positive light. This favorable tone is especially evident during and after official visits by Serbian officials, such as Da\u010di\u0107\u2019s trip to Beijing and Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s visit to Moscow. In contrast, the European Union remains the most frequent target of negative and manipulative reporting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong><i>The role of President Vu\u010di\u0107 in shaping the narrative<\/i><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s role in shaping the media portrayal of foreign actors remains crucial to understanding the tone of coverage. As in previous monitoring periods, he is the most frequently quoted political figure in domestic broadcast media \u2014 with a significant lead over all other actors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The analysis shows that when Vu\u010di\u0107 is directly quoted, the tone of reporting shifts in line with his statements: the pro-U.S. narrative registers the fastest growth, pro-Russian coverage becomes even more positive, and pro-EU reporting turns more negative compared to the previous period. This indicates that the media image of foreign actors is largely shaped by the messages sent by Serbia\u2019s highest-ranking official, rather than by independent editorial policies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong><i>Manipulative narratives: the selective targeting of the EU<\/i><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the first half of 2025, the largest share of manipulative content in Serbian media was directed at the EU, continuing the years-long trend of discrediting the EU as a political and societal partner. In contrast, China and Russia were almost entirely exempt from such treatment, while the U.S., since Trump\u2019s return to power, has also been less frequently portrayed in a negative or manipulative context. This selective approach reflects a high degree of editorial control and a politically motivated narrative framework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Methodology:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The research covers central news segments and press review sections in morning programs of nationally broadcast TV channels (RTS1, Pink, Prva, Happy). Between January 1 and June 30, 2025, a total of 8,093 media items were analyzed, focusing on political, military, economic, and social topics, as well as wars in the former Yugoslavia, culture, human rights, and health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The full report is available <a href=\"https:\/\/crta.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Crta_Media-monitoring_January_June_2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> and listed below.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The longstanding pattern of domestic media favoring countries led by authoritarian leaders continues to shape the tone of reporting in 2025. Since 2017, anti-Western narratives have dominated Serbian media, while pro-Russian and pro-Chinese coverage has remained consistently positive. However, with President Trump\u2019s return to power in the U.S., anti-Western narratives are now reserved for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":709,"featured_media":42157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-en","ciTrackContent"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Serbia shifts narrative on the US after Trump\u2019s return to power - CRTA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Media in 2025: pro-American tone rises, Russia and China stay positive, while the EU remains the main target of negative coverage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crta.rs\/en\/serbia-shifts-narrative-on-the-us-after-trumps-return-to-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Serbia shifts narrative on the US after Trump\u2019s return to power - 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