In favour of censorship and propaganda: elites, media capture and the journalistic profession in the Western Balkans

The ruling elites and the media need each other for all sorts of reasons. While using Serbia as a case study, this article is concerned with the behaviour of political and economic power structures towards the media sector, as well as the decision of numerous journalists to embrace self-censorship due to external and in-house pressures. Consequently, I argue that it is not enough to blame different regimes alone for the precarious status of the journalistic profession, but also journalists themselves. By ignoring ethics and codes of conduct in the face of government propaganda and highly problematic agendas, journalists have simultaneously contributed to the erosion of their own profession. The article likewise suggests that international state and non-state actors can only provide evaluations and recommendations, but not the solution to the media crisis in Serbia and the regime’s preference for authoritarian rule.