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Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
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Sanela Hodžic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 57 pp.

"The results of the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey suggest that the key determinants for the future of our media and democracies are the following: • The poor socio-economic status of journalists and their exposure to ... pressure and attacks, coupled with modest support mechanisms, cripple the ability of journalists to promote the public interest, report on key issues of public interest, and hold power to account. In the most extreme cases, the pressure involves imprisonment, interrogation, surveillance, and lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists. • The lack of consistent monitoring and registration of cases of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the region, with dozens of lawsuits against journalists filed by political officials and their affiliates. • A growing number or media outlets, but a declining number of journalism students, highlighting concerns about the future shrinking of staff numbers in media newsrooms and about the growing automatization of journalism. The most drastic drop was in North Macedonia, with the number of journalism students in 2023 amounting to only 11% of the number from ten years ago and 50% of the number from 2000. • The number of media outlets is growing, mostly in the online sector, while print media outlets are becoming increasingly endemic. • A worrying trend of overt concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few media conglomerates, often tied to national or foreign governments, that takes a toll on media freedom and pluralism. • The dominant instrumentalization (through ownership and funding) of media (including private and public) for particular political and/or business interests limits the space for editorial independence and integrity. • Non-profit media are still a rarity in the region, with only a few non-profit radio broadcasters in some countries, and an unknown number of online platforms of civil society organizations with a community-focused mission. • Lack of transparency of the media sector, particularly a lack of accessible and reliable information concerning the media industry and the media market. • Advertising is the main source of revenues in the media sector, with the total revenues ranging between EUR 12 million in Montenegro and over EUR 4 billion in Turkey. • Although it is declining, the TV sector is still dominant in terms of its share of advertising revenues, while social media’s share is increasing, and in Turkey it amounts to as much as 45.7% of advertising revenues. • The tech giants such as Google and Meta are an increasingly dominant competitor for media outlets in the region, jeopardizing the future sustainability of national and local media outlets and potentially curbing political pluralism in public communication. • Public funding for the media, including funding of public broadcasters (declining in four out of seven countries), grants, and subsidies for media outlets and government advertising, amounts to several to dozens of millions of euros per country, taking up an important share of media revenues, but without proactive transparency, effective guarantees of editorial independence, well-defined purpose and evaluation, the opportunities to make public funding for the media an important instrument of media democratization remain under-used. • The representation of different age, gender, ethnic, religious, and other groups in media content and in the newsrooms’ staff is limited. In multiethnic communities some policies promote ethnic diversity of media content, while other identity axes are largely neglected and pluralism in public communication is very limited. Women are an important, and in many countries even dominant, workforce in the media, but remain underrepresented in managerial posts." (Executive summary) more

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Hate Narratives in the Western Balkans and Turkey

Sandra B. Hrvatin, Sanela Hodzic Brankica Petkovic

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2021), 29 pp.

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Media Trust in the Western Balkans: Together Apart. Regional Overview

Sandra B. Hrvatin, Brankica Petkovic, Sanela Hodžic

Ljubljana: Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2021), 34 pp.

"Trust in the media varies across the region, with citizens in BiH, Serbia and North Macedonia divided in around half of those that trust and half of those that distrust the media, and a higher number of citizens in Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania having trust in the media. The highest trust is expre ... more

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Funding and Governance Models of the Public Service Media in the Countries of South East Europe: Comparing Models and Demanding Reforms of Public Service Media
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Brankica Petkovic, Sasa Panic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2016), 32 pp.

"In this comparative regional overview of the governing and funding models of public service media in the countries of South East Europe, we see a variety of solutions. The information we have gathered and presented here demonstrates once again that these media organisations use large amounts of pub ... more

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Media Integrity Matters: Reclaiming Public Service Values in Media and Journalism

Brankica Petkovic, Jovana Mihajlovic Trbovc (eds.)

Sandra B. Hrvatin Contrib.;Londo, Ilda;Hodžic, Sanela;Popovic, Helena;Trpevska, Snežana;Micevski, Igor;Matic, Jovanka;Valic Nedeljkovic, Dubravka

Ljubljana: Peace Institute; South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) (2014), 445 pp.

"This book is an attempt to address obstacles to a democratic development of media systems in the countries of South East Europe by mapping patterns of corrupt relations and practices in media policy development, media ownership and financing, public service broadcasting, and journalism as a profess ... more

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Media Preferences and Perceptions: A Survey Among Students, Ethnic Minorities and Politicians in Slovenia

Brankica Petkovic, Marko Prpic, Neva Nahtigal, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2009), 182 pp.

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You Call This a Media Market? The Role of the State in the Media Sector in Slovenia

Sandra B. Hrvatin, Brankica Petkovic

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2008), 200 pp.

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Media for Citizens

Brankica Petkovic, Sandra B. Hrvatin, Lenart J. Kucic, Iztok Jurancic, Marko Prpic, Roman Kuhar

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2006), 171 pp.

"This book presents the studies that were conducted as part of the project entitled Media For Citizens, which is concerned with media pluralism and citizens' communication rights. The project is an effort to enhance the ability of citizens, and minority groups in particular, to actively [...] partic ... more

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Serving the State or the Public: The Outlook for Public Service Broadcasting in Slovenia

Sandra B. Hrvatin

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2002), 89 pp.

"In this study Sandra B. Hrvatin analyzes the public institution RTV Slovenia and the main problems related to it - funding, public control and fulfilment of the public role - and draws comparisons with other public broadcasters across the world. She concludes that RTV Slovenia is in crisis and sugg ... more

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Media Policy in Slovenia in the 1990s: Regulation, Privatization, Concentration and Commercialization of the Media

Sandra B. Hrvatin, Marko Milosavljevic

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2001), 66 pp.

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The Victory of the Imaginary Left: The Relationship of the Media and Politics in the 2000 Parliamentary Elections in Slovenia

Breda Luthar, Tonci A. Kuzmanic, Sreco Dragos, Mitja Velikonja, Sandra B. Hrvatin, Lenart J. Kucic

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2001), 118 pp.

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We About the Roma: Discriminatory Discourse in the Media in Slovenia

Karmen Erjavec, Sandra B. Hrvatin, Barbara Kelbl

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2000), 40 pp.

"This study analyzes the Slovenian media writing about the Roma in autumn 1997 when the villagers of Maline set up a village watch to prevent the settlement of a Romani family who bought a house in their village. The prevalent mood of the coverage could be summed up with a single word - “problems� ... more

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview Top Insights

Funding and Governance Models of the Public Service Media in the Countries of South East Europe: Comparing Models and Demanding Reforms of Public Service Media Top Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Top Insights

Funding and Governance Models of the Public Service Media in the Countries of South East Europe: Comparing Models and Demanding Reforms of Public Service Media
Top Insights