Government of the Republic of Serbia
Domestic media is dealing less and less with LGBT topics, as shown by the monitoring and analysis of LGBT content in Serbian media for 2018, implemented by the Gay Lesbian Info Centre.
During the monitoring period from 1 June to 31 December 2018, 566 articles have been published, a significant decrease compared to the same periods during previous years. The largest number of articles were published in the daily newspapers ALO (85), Kurir (82) and Danas (80), while the fewest were published in Politika (27). The drop in the number of articles in Politika from 87 in 2016 to 27 in 2018 may be explained by a change of editors, as well as editorial policy.
Most of the articles were neutral in character, while 12% were negative, an increase compared to the 4% in 2016. Most of the negative articles were published in the ALO daily (24), followed by Srpski telegraf (15) and Kurir (13).
Most of the articles were published under the sections on Society, followed by Fun, Chronicle, Culture, and the fewest in Sports, although the Sports section registers an increase of published articles compared to previous years. The majority of articles deals with domestic topics, which is commendable, with most attention given to the Pride Parade in Belgrade, the Pride of Serbia and the Merlinka Festival.
The Press Council received ten complaints in 2018 regarding reporting on the LGBT population, half the number from previous years. Of those ten complaints, only three represent breaches of the Journalist’s Code, according to the opinion of the Complains Commission.
The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality received 26 complaints in 2018 for discrimination based on sexual orientation in the field of media. Discrimination based on sexual orientation has been found in four complaints against media, discrimination based on gender identity was established in one complaint, and based on sexual orientation because of a Twitter comment in one.
The monitoring and analysis of LGBT content in media was implemented with support by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
The text of the analysis can be found on the gayecho.com website.
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