Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is concerned that the sale of Adria News Network (ANN) could result in political influence in ANN outlets, and calls for full transparency on funding and for binding, enforceable guarantees of editorial independence to be put in place before European authorities approve the deal.
ANN is a media group whose portfolio includes, as Reporters Without Borders said, Serbia’s last major independent television channel N1, one of Montenegro’s leading news outlets Vijesti, and TV stations in European Union (EU) states Croatia and Slovenia.
The sale will likely restructure the media landscape in the Balkans, yet the source of funding used by the prospective buyer, the Portuguese investment group Alpac Capital, has not been publicly disclosed, RSF added.
“The sale of ANN amounts to a media ownership earthquake in the Balkans and key information about the funding and strong firewalls between the owners and newsrooms is missing. Opaque funding favours dangerous liaisons, which may weigh on the outlets’ editorial independence – historically embodied by ANN’s Balkan media N1 and Vijesti, two outlets targeted by the Serbian government. We call on Alpac Capital to disclose the information and on European regulators to condition the approval of the acquisition by real, verifiable guarantees of editorial independence,” said RSF’s Prague Bureau Director Pavol Szalai.
Serbia ranks 104th and Montenegro 41st out of the 180 countries and territories surveyed in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
Investment group Alpac Capital and Summer Parent S.à r.l., the ultimate shareholder of United Group, confirmed on May 29 that an agreement has been reached for the sale of Adria News S.à r.l.
Reporters without Borders said it contacted Alpac Capital for details about funding, editorial guarantees and other aspects of the deal, but the investment group and its CEO Pedro Vargas David did not reply.
Source: N1
