N1 television and its digital portal have emerged as the leading news sources in Serbia for 2026, alongside the public broadcaster RTS. According to the latest survey conducted for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism by Snjezana Milivojevic, a retired professor of Public Opinion and Media Studies at the University of Belgrade, N1 also holds the highest level of public trust among Serbian citizens.
According to the report, N1 and RTS are the top choices for news, each cited by 38 percent of respondents. In the digital sphere, N1’s portal leads the market, with 36 percent of respondents using it as their primary online news source.
In the category of television, radio, and print, Nova TV ranks second with 24 percent, followed by Blic and Pink TV (20 percent), Prva TV (19 percent), B92 (17 percent), and Kurir (15 percent). Other outlets include the newspaper Nova and Informer TV (14 percent), Happy TV (13 percent), Danas and various local media (12 percent), Vojvodina public broadcaster RTV (11 percent), and Euronews and the newspaper Informer (10 percent).
Online, N1 holds the top spot with 36 percent, followed by Blic (30 percent), Telegraf (23 percent), and Nova.rs (21 percent). BIRN, Danas, and Kurir follow at 20 percent, with Mondo and RTS at 19 percent, Srbija Danas at 18 percent, Juzne Vesti at 16 percent, B92 at 15 percent, and Informer, Prva Srpska TV online, Radar online, and Pink TV online all at 12 percent.
The study notes that television remains a critical news source, particularly among older age groups, but that social media and the internet are now the dominant platforms. News websites and apps have seen a significant “boom” over the past year.
Overall, 85 percent of respondents get their news online (including social media and podcasts), 64 percent via social networks, and 57 percent through news sites/apps. In contrast, 51 percent use television, 19 percent radio, and 16 percent print.
Among social media platforms, Facebook remains the most popular for news (50 percent), with a total of 75 percent. This is followed by YouTube (41 percent for news; 80 percent total for any purpose), Instagram (40 percent for news; total 69 percent), TikTok (24 percent for news; 46 percent for any purpose), Viber (22 percent for news; 77 percent for any purpose), and X (14 percent for news; 21 percent for any purpose).
The study also found that 53 percent of respondents sometimes or often actively avoid the news.
N1 also enjoys highest public trust
Overall trust in the media has fallen by five percentage points in the past year to just 22 percent, likely influenced by the severe political crisis and highly polarized media, according to the report.
The more critical media – N1, Nova, Danas and Vreme – have the highest levels of trust, ahead of widely used pro-government brands such as Informer and PINK.
N1 TV leads with 52 percent trust, followed by Nova TV with 47 percent, Vreme with 43 percent, and Danas with 41 percent.
Conversely, the lowest levels of trust were recorded for Informer (19 percent), Happy TV and Pink TV (21 percent), Kurir (23 percent), and Vecernje Novosti (28 percent).
According to the 2026 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, Serbia currently ranks 104th out of 180 countries.
A deteriorating media landscape
The report by Snjezana Milivojevic emphasizes that the media landscape in Serbia has deteriorated significantly during the ongoing political crisis this year.
“State ownership of the media increased, along with greater financial and political influence over the market, which together with constant hostility towards independent outlets, have led to a decline in media freedom and journalistic safety,” the report reads.
It recalls that the crisis in the country erupted following the deadly collapse of the railway station roof in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, on 1 November 2024, killing 16 people. It adds that the tragedy was attributed to corruption and sparked widespread protests led by students, who blockaded major universities and mobilized citizens in a prolonged antigovernment movement.
“Unrest escalated after use of an unidentified sonic weapon against peaceful demonstrators in Belgrade on 15 March 2025. After no success in bringing those responsible to account, protesters demanded early general elections, which the authoritarian regime of President Aleksandar Vucic continues to resist,” the report says.
It notes that, instead, the government intensified repression against ‘rebellious society’, tightening control over the judiciary, media, and universities. Police violence increased, with over 1,636 arrests reported between June and September 2025.
“Repression peaked during efforts to suppress student activism and reopen universities. Protests continued until the March 2026 local elections, which were characterized by serious irregularities and, according to the European Federation of Journalists, an unprecedented level of violence against journalists, making Serbia one of the most dangerous places for them outside of active war zones,” the study highlights.
It says that, in the highly but asymmetrically polarized media landscape, television remains very important with a large audience and political influence.
There are two PSBs, national Radio Televizija Srbija (RTS) and regional Radio Televizija Vojvodina (RTV), four national commercial channels – RTV PINK, RTV Happy, TV Prva, and TV B92 – and over 200 local and cable channels.
All national commercial channels are owned by Serbian companies tied to the political elites, which effectively closes the mainstream media to reporting critical of the government, reads the report.
The dominance of Telekom
Meanwhile, state-owned Telekom Srbija, the major telecom operator, has acquired over 30 TV channels in the past year, thereby becoming an important media company, the major delivery platform, and one of the top advertisers in the country.
According to the 2025 Ipsos Media Landscape, total advertising spend has grown by eight percent in the past year, reaching 296 million euro, but that is still insufficient to sustain the number of media outlets.
Television attracts 45 percent (+1.5 percent) of advertising spend, while print has just four percent (-13.9 percent) compared to the rapid growth in online (+ 23.4 percent), which now accounts for 32 percent of total advertising revenue.
Two critical cable television channels, N1 and Nova TV, are among the top sources of news offline in this year’s survey.
Both are owned by international telecom and media company United Group and have been regularly targeted by Aleksandar Vucic as anti-Serbian or even terrorist media. In early 2025 the United Group sold its telecoms business SBB but retained N1 and Nova TV in a new company, Adria News Network, while promising to defend their independence.
However, in a leaked conversation revealed in August 2025, the new CEO of United Group, Stan Miller, was heard agreeing to dismiss the head of its media division at Mr Vucic’s request. Then on 6 April 2026 N1 announced that its director of news Igor Bozic had been replaced.
Journalists’ unions and media watchers fear that this might lead to the neutering or shutting down of N1 and taming of the remaining critical media, the report says.
It adds that the newspaper market is dominated by the tabloid press. According to the report, pro-government tabloids in Serbia have often been used to discredit dissenting voices, run smear campaigns, and amplify nationalist and anti-EU narratives.
Informer was among three tabloids which the Press Council named for infringing the Code of Ethics in the second half of 2025, in their case with 1,456 violations.
In November 2024 it launched its cable news channel and now has 14 percent weekly reach offline and 12 percent online, but the lowest level of public trust (19 percent) among all the brands surveyed.
The report says that there are signs that audiences are rewarding investigative and community media for scrutinizing corruption and covering protests. New digital multi-media outlets such as Masina and Zoomer are attracting audiences with their engaging live reporting, while investigative journalism portals such as KRIK and BIRN specialize in exposing crime and corruption.
“The fact that our Serbian respondents see ‘organized crime’ as the third largest influence on media at 47 percent, behind media owners and government/ politicians cited by 64 percent and 63 percent respectively, suggests the extent of public concern about corruption and possible criminal links in parts of the media,” Milivojevic concludes.
Source: N1
