Approximately 30 protesters entered the newsroom of Informer TV on Monday evening, surrounding editor-in-chief and owner Dragan Vucicevic and calling for his arrest. Some demonstrators invoked themes of freedom and questioned the whereabouts of Vucic, while others shouted slogans celebrating what they characterized as a free Serbia. The incident followed electoral results from the previous day in which Serbia’s Student List, a student-led anticorruption movement, defeated Vucic’s political alliance in what observers described as a historic election.
Vucic, who had served as prime minister starting in 2014 and as president from 2017 onward, conceded defeat and subsequently posted on social media condemning the newsroom incursion as an attack on press freedom. The electoral outcome terminated his party’s 14-year control over Serbia’s government. Large-scale celebrations broke out across the country following Vucic’s announcement, with fireworks illuminating the night sky. Some voters described the result as marking an end to authoritarian governance they had experienced for over a decade.
The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia announced plans to submit an application seeking revocation of Informer TV’s broadcasting license, citing what it characterized as systematic legal violations and breaches of programming standards. Vucicevic responded by asserting that the incoming administration intended to suppress media outlets, characterizing such actions as revelatory of the Student List’s true nature. Additional protests occurred outside Pink TV, another privately owned station aligned with Vucic, which police secured.
Separately, the public broadcaster RTV in the Vojvodina region issued an apology to viewers for failing to meet its journalistic obligations through one-sided reporting. Research conducted by the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability during the campaign period documented that national television stations allocated approximately three-quarters of political coverage time to government representatives, with the Student List receiving negative portrayal in over 80 percent of its airtime. Serbia’s press freedom ranking stood at 104th globally according to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, marking its lowest position on record and the worst standing within the European Union-Balkan region.
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