On April 29, 2026, a panel discussion was held at the Storyteller editorial office in Kulpin on the topic of polarization in society and the role of the media in this issue. The participants in the discussion were Anja Anđušić, project manager and researcher at the Institute for Media and Diversity in the Western Balkans; Boris Kojčinović, MA student at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad; Maja Stojanović, Executive Director of Civic Initiatives; and Dr. Jelena Kleut, communicator. The discussion was moderated by Brankica Matić, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Storyteller.
The panel is part of and the final event of the project “Chronicle of Polarization – Protests Led by Serbian Students,” implemented by Media Pont from Novi Sad and Storyteller from Kulpin within the Reporting Diversity Network, funded by the European Union through the Media Diversity Institute.
The project officially began in early October 2025, and the first journalistic article along with accompanying multimedia content was published ahead of the anniversary of the canopy collapse at the Novi Sad Railway Station on November 1, 2024. Over the past months, three articles and a solutions-oriented journalistic story have been published on the Storyteller portal.
In an attempt to explain the media landscape in Serbia, Anja Anđušić focused on hate speech and the omnipresence of polarizing narratives. She emphasized that the media system and situation are incomparable to those in the rest of the region, primarily due to the number of attacks on journalists—both by the regime and the police, as well as systemic attacks through SLAPP lawsuits, which are now also affecting local media. She pointed out that labeling plays a key role in generating hatred. As another factor, she highlighted the dysfunction of laws and regulatory bodies that should sanction hate speech and explicit violence routinely disseminated through the media.
Jelena Kleut concluded that the sheer number of media outlets—over 2,000 in Serbia—is itself indicative of the state of the media landscape, pointing to an inflated market tied to the state and the Serbian Progressive Party. She emphasized freedom of expression as a means of achieving democracy, underlining that it ends when it begins to endanger others. From a communication studies perspective, she analyzed how information is disseminated to broad audiences without firmly established political views, for propaganda purposes and to spread intolerance and polarization. She commented on the systematic decline of traditional media under government influence and raised concerns about the absence of dialogue between political opponents, without which a healthy democracy cannot be built. She also described how prolonged, overt violence significantly undermines individuals’ willingness to engage in such dialogue. She sees social media as part of the problem rather than the solution, describing them as a mirror of society.
Boris Kojčinović highlighted the polarization of the media, noting that from the very beginning of the protests, there were media outlets that supported students on one side and those that reported in a sensationalist manner on the other. He placed media responsibility at the forefront, emphasizing how media offerings shape citizens’ attitudes and interests. He offered a critical view of citizen journalism as a relatively new and poorly defined form of reporting, which is nonetheless useful and significant in this period. He commented on how public opinion about students has been shaped since the beginning of the protests and the role of the lack of media literacy in that process. He expressed the view that media should operate in the interest of citizens rather than in the interest of satisfying every demand of the market, whether productive or not. He identified propaganda as a key factor in the political mobilization of young people, who entered the process insufficiently prepared.
Maja Stojanović emphasized the role of the media as a watchdog of public opinion, as well as the role of authoritarian government as a controller of the media. She defined media as those that adhere to a Code of Ethics, noting how few such outlets there are. She connected this to the difficulty of fostering media literacy among citizens in such an environment. She criticized the dissemination of hate speech as a mechanism that deepens citizens’ political apathy. She also pointed to the problem of manipulating poorly informed citizens, who are more easily exposed to misinformation. She stressed argumentation and democratic dialogue as fundamental needs in a healthy society and noted the growing demand for high-quality and responsible media.
Through the discussion, enriched by the participants’ personal experiences, several conclusions were reached. One of the main ones is the importance of healthy dialogue for the functioning of society and democracy. They analyzed the issue of a systemically dysfunctional media system in Serbia, which prevents such dialogue and even actively works against building tolerance among citizens with differing political views. The problem of polarization was described as complex, long-standing in the region, and deeply rooted in society. When it comes to solutions they would propose, the main one was a regime change, which would be the starting point for fixing all other formerly stated problems.
During the event on social divisions, a gathering of SNS supporters was held in front of the Storyteller editorial office.
Author: Maša Drinić, student on internship at Media Pont
Photo: Media Pont
This article was created with the financial support of the European Union under the Diversity Reporting Network program. The “Media Pont” organisation is solely responsible for its content and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the Diversity Reporting Network program.