After the change of power: Belgrade argues over the storming of TV Informer and pro-government media

What happened

On Monday evening at around 18:40, several dozen people entered TV Informer's building in Belgrade and interrupted the live programme. A well-known activist from the protest movement had earlier called on people to gather outside the station. Editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vučićević and some staff left the studio; after an exchange of words, the group withdrew to the courtyard. According to Vreme, police later clashed with a larger crowd outside. People also gathered in front of TV Pink, where a police cordon protected the building.

On Tuesday, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation and 32 other organisations – including the journalists' associations NUNS and ANEM and the human rights group YUCOM – asked the regulator REM to revoke Informer's licence. They cite eleven violations recorded by REM itself in October alone and hundreds of court cases against the publisher. The regulator has been largely paralysed since late 2024; two proceedings against Informer failed to win the required majority in early October.

Vučić, now head of the "Ujedinjena Srbija" list, called the intruders "savages". If the authorities do not act, he said at a party celebration, supporters of his Progressive Party (SNS) would have to "self-organise". He added that no one from his list would talk to the new authorities if Informer were banned.

The mood on the ground

The joy over the change of power that filled the squares at the weekend is now mixed with a sharp dispute about limits. For many government critics, Informer has long been the epitome of smear campaigns against students and dissenters – ANEM's Veran Matić called it one of Europe's biggest "poison kitchens". Support for revoking its licence is correspondingly broad.

At the same time, voices from the winning camp are urging restraint. Matić stressed that justified anger has limits and must not harm the student movement. According to Vreme, the Student List said it neither supports nor calls for break-ins at institutions or media. Its lead candidate Ilija Srdanović, whom Vučićević phoned live to ask him to call off the crowd, replied curtly: "I can't hear you."

On the other side, pro-government media and Vučić himself present the scene as proof that the new majority tolerates violence. The independent portal 021.rs, by contrast, headlined that Vučić was using Informer for blackmail – because he makes dialogue with the new majority conditional on the station's survival. The EU Delegation to Serbia also condemned the incident. Meanwhile, pressure is growing on public broadcaster RTS: students and some staff are demanding resignations, which the director refuses.

Voices from the media