Serbian public broadcaster apologizes for years of one-sided news coverage during Aleksandar Vučić’s rule
Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) apologized to viewers live on air for having “turned a blind eye to many things,” Serbian outlets reported.
A news broadcast showed footage of people in Serbia celebrating after the election. Anchor Goran Eror then said the footage showed only some of what RTV had failed to show viewers the previous night.
“For many years, the public broadcaster failed to fulfill its role. Things went unsaid, a blind eye was turned, information was one-sided, reporting was uncritical, and the right questions were not asked — or no questions were asked at all. And for that, we owe our viewers an apology,” the anchor said, reading a statement on air.
He said some employees had fought to allow journalists and editors to work freely but that “we did not win the battle in time.” “But we believe it is important to carry on that fight,” he said.
Following the apology, Nenad Čačić, acting editor-in-chief of RTV’s main channel, RTV 1, resigned.
Serbia held an early parliamentary election on October 25. Former President Aleksandar Vučić, who had resigned a month earlier, ran in the election, hoping to become prime minister if he won. His party lost to the “Student List” movement, which grew out of protests that began in 2024.
A similar episode unfolded in Hungary, where Viktor Orbán stepped down after 16 years in power when the government changed in spring 2026. The new government later announced a reorganization of the public broadcaster MTVA, while the television channel M1 apologized to viewers for lying and for “doing it all these years.”
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