The media situation in the Western Balkans is deteriorating as a result of repeated attacks on media freedom and systematic undermining of the profession. The countries of the Western Balkans now rank amongst the lowest of all European countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2020 World Press Freedom Index
Of the 180 countries listed by RSF, Bosnia and Herzegovina is in 58th place, followed by Kosovo on 70, Albania is 84, North Macedonia 92, Serbia 93, and Montenegro 105.
Speaking at a conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019, the general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Gutierrez, said that Media freedom is declining all over Europe but the situation is worse in this region than in any other place.
It is within this challenging media landscape that Thomson Foundation is working as part of a consortium in a project funded by the UK Government's Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) to develop and strengthen the editorial independence and business operations of local media outlets in the six Western Balkans countries.
Why Local? Local media is particularly vulnerable according to a recent study commissioned by Thomson Foundation which indicates that local outlets in all six WB countries are overwhelmingly neglected compared to the national ones. Here local media refers to those organisations that operate outside the capitals and big cities.
The foundation's study is unusual as there is currently little or no detailed knowledge about local media as most research focuses on the national level. It revealed opportunities to help these media organisations to engage audiences as a potential source of revenue.
It comes at a time of increased importance for local media. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the need for local, appropriate, and accurate information. As the Council of Europe points out the provision of timely information about public health risks is a critical element in crisis response.
Media in the Western Balkans Approximately 18 million people live in the six countries of the Western Balkans, of which Serbia has the largest population, about 7 million and Montenegro the smallest, 0.6 million.
Overall there are around 1,500 local media outlets, almost half in Serbia, followed by 19% in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12% in Albania, 10% in North Macedonia, 7% in Kosovo, and 5% in Montenegro.
The general media markets in all these countries are fragmented, saturated, and opaque in regard to the number of outlets and their operations, with ownership also often obscure. The online media market is the most vibrant, with on average six online outlets operating in each community.
The Thomson Foundation study identifies that, in the absence of stable revenues local media are dependent on public financing, and so, since income from advertising is limited, their editorial policies adapt to the dominant political option, while those that strive to remain professional and independent find it hard to survive, with little donor help available
Local media Some news websites are trying to avoid this dependence on public financing with innovative approaches. Direkt based in Trebinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina is described as an untypical news portal with a primary goal to report not on every event but to focus on selected topics with more analytical and in-depth reports. The aim to tap into a more targeted audience and revenue streams.
Mileva Malesic from TV Forum in Prijepolje, Serbia, offers another approach. The creation of local outlets network for sharing products and information could be of immense help, she says.
TV Forum recently ran a crowd funding campaign to raise funds for new equipment. In less than two months they collected USD 5.500 which represents almost 50 per cent of their monthly budget.
Role in the community According to journalist Nikolija Bijelica from Direkt there are more negative than positive sides to working for a local media outlet.
On positive side one knows better what the main issues in the community are and who is responsible to address them, she says. On negative side the list is slightly longer. Namely, in small communities everyone knows everyone so the pressure on journalists is greater.
Suzana Nikolich from the Kumanovo news website in North Macedonia, has similar views. She points out that local media's biggest advantage is at the same time its biggest disadvantage.
Knowing the majority of people or knowing someone that knows someone is good for obtaining unofficial information, she says. But in the same time problematic due to constant pressure on media workers.
Challenging environment But despite working in challenging environments, journalists in local media outlets are aware of their importance and the key role they play for the local communities
Limos Didani, founder of Saranda Web, a news portal based in Saranda, Albania, points out that the role of the local media is crucial to the voices of the community being heard. The people want their concerns raised and to continue to be in the news until they are resolved.
As an example of slow but steady progress that local media can initiate in local communities Mileva Malesic from TV Forum points to her personal experience. She was the first female journalist to be employed in the Prijepolje local outlet which was set up in 1952. Since her appointment the number of female journalist in Prijepolje has steadily increased. In TV Forum, which Mileva established in 2008, of the 10 employees six of the journalists are women.
This article draws on a Comparative Study: Local Media in the Western Balkans completed by the Thomson Foundation in March 2020. It examined how local media operate across the six countries in the region examining shared characteristics in particular the challenges they faced; financial sustainabili
Most recent headlines
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...
15/12/2025
L3Harris will leverage 15 years of experience supporting the E-4B Nightwatch and...
15/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the loss of federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and operational changes, the statewide pub...
15/12/2025
BOULDER, Colo. Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), Venture Technologies Group (VTG), and WQED have completed a multipart agreement that they say will significant...
15/12/2025
Cape Town, November 13, 2025 - SES and International artist and humanitarian, Fo...
15/12/2025
Luxembourg, December 15, 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Abra Group launched fast and reliable multi-orbit inflight connectivity service on t...
15/12/2025
How Rivian s Design Puts Drivers First-And Why That Matters Published on Dec 15, 2025 Categories: Business Solutions
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Sha...
15/12/2025
Space42 and Cobham Satcom completed the full range of advanced terminals for the...
15/12/2025
15 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan Delivers First Starlink Direct to Cel...
15/12/2025
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself the topic of year's cracker jokes
Oasis, David Harbour, Celebrity Traitors and Angela Rayner all feature in this y...
15/12/2025
Comscore Expands Cross-Platform Campaign Measurement to Include Audio and Social New capabilities strengthen cross-platform campaign reporting suite; CCR rebran...
15/12/2025
NVIDIA today announced it has acquired SchedMD - the leading developer of Slurm, an open-source workload management system for high-performance computing (HPC) ...
15/12/2025
RT .ie has reached one billion page views this year and is on track to finish 2025 2% ahead of last year. Average time spent on the site is up 3% on 2024, with ...
15/12/2025
Modern workflows showcase the endless possibilities of generative and agentic AI on PCs.
Of many, some examples include tuning a chatbot to handle product-supp...
13/12/2025
Powering Client Growth: Horizon Deepens Nielsen Partnership, Enabling More Effic...
13/12/2025
In a move that will help it offer more flexible and less costly programming options, YouTube TV has announced that it will be launching YouTube TV Plans with mo...
13/12/2025
SINGAPORE Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore medi...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
12/12/2025
Hailey Gates at the Atropia premiere (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
12/12/2025
Last month, Spotify announced a new collaboration with the ATP Tour, the global governing body of men's professional tennis, aimed at bringing the next gene...
12/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the elimination of Federal federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and changes in the way they...
12/12/2025
Wisycom and DPA Microphones announce the appointment of Ren Moerch as Group Product Director, Wireless, a strategic leadership role that will guide the combine...
12/12/2025
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, in conjuncture with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Entertainment Technolog...
12/12/2025
Keepit, the vendor-independent, cloud-native data protection provider, today announced a strategic go-to-market relationship in Poland with Ingram Micro, a lead...
12/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking Open Gate 48P RAW recording w...
12/12/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) once again played a critical role in delivering flawless wireless coordination and support at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards a...
12/12/2025
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), together with the Video Services Forum (VSF), the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadc...
12/12/2025
DHD audio will demonstrate the latest additions to its range of digital audio production solutions on Booth 321 in Hall B6 at Hamburg Open 2026. The show will b...
12/12/2025
Chaos today announces the release of V-Ray for Blender, update 2, bringing its award-winning rendering technology to even more Blender users by adding support f...
12/12/2025
Lighting specialist UltraLEDs has launched Precision LED Tape, a high-CRI lighting solution designed specifically for professional film, TV, and studio use.
P...
The media situation in the Western Balkans is deteriorating as a result of repeated attacks on media freedom and systematic undermining of the profession. The countries of the Western Balkans now rank amongst the lowest of all European countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2020 World Press Freedom Index
