Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s crackdown on students, citizens, and independent media is becoming increasingly brutal, N1 Zagreb said.
His weapons aren’t just batons, police and paramilitary groups, and thugs. Vučić’s arsenal also includes Serbian tabloids and a media underworld that seeks to expand beyond Serbia, particularly into EU countries like Slovenia and Croatia, N1 Zagreb added.
Just recall how many millions of euros were spent on purchasing sports rights, with Telekom Serbia attempting to destroy competition and the market in regional countries.
The Serbian regime and its tabloids are also putting significant effort into finding actors in those countries who would present analyses and theses that justify or promote the Vucic regime.
One of such attempt was the story of the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković. All the pro-regime media reported the “letter of support” sent by Janković to Vučić in February 2025, which states:
“Dear Mr. President, in these demanding and critical moments, when Serbia is facing numerous challenges, I want to express my sincere support and recognition for everything you have done for the development and stability of the country. Your leadership, determination and vision are key to the progress that Serbia has achieved in the past years, and I am convinced that this path must be continued,” Janković stated in the letter. Janković served Vučić and his media as a short-term candidate for Prime Minister of Serbia, but that spin did not stop the protests and increasingly loud demands for profound democratic changes in the country.
Brent Sadler, a former CNN journalist and former member of the editorial board of N1 television, has become the new spokesperson for the Vučić regime in its attempt to shut down the free media in the Serbian tabloids.
Interestingly, the Serbian tabloids published a whole series of articles about Brent Sadler after his interview last week in the Croatian weekly Nacional. Obviously, Croatian media were chosen to announce Sadler’s nomination for CEO of United Media, so that it would seem more credible. For Serbian pro-regime tabloids, Nacional suddenly became a credible source, after weeks of Vučić and Brnabić brandishing various articles and calling all Croatian media Ustasha.
One detail is particularly interesting in this media-political operation.
In the interview for Nacional, Sadler criticized N1 and claimed that the editorial independence of United Media is under threat. When asked by Nacional how he applied for this interview and how he was referred to Vučić, Sadler claims: The idea that I orchestrated all of this is absurd. I haven’t spoken about that topic for years. I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t initiate it, and I didn’t benefit from it. My name appeared within the existing context – because of a wider problem, that is, the crisis in leadership and the symbolic role that I historically had within United Media. If anything, the way the story was placed was more of an attempt to discredit than to promote. But I’m not running away from that discussion. I believe that you should stand behind what you did,” he said.
After an interview and a series of articles in Serbian tabloids, N1 editorial staff asked Sadler: “The tabloids reported your interview with the claim that you said that N1 and Nova are not independent or professional. Is that your opinion or a distorted interpretation of the tabloids?” Interestingly, Sadler refused to answer N1’s questions. Although, as he claims in Nacional, he “doesn’t shy away from discussion”. But, apparently, only discussions that correspond to Vučić’s attempts to bring the remaining free media in Serbia under control.
In the Nacional interview Sadler said that he was not contacted by BC Partners or United Group about this: I have not received any proposal or offer from United Group to run United Media, nor from BC Partners, he said.
The question that was not asked in the interview and to which there is no answer so far is much more important and interesting: Did Sadler actually receive the proposal or offer to lead United Media from Aleksandar Vučić,” N1 Zagreb said.
Source: N1
