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The aim of this paper is to sketch a brief history of complex digital transformation of media and journalism in the context of Serbia, a European country which has undergone politically turbulent transition from authoritarian to democratic rule over the past 20 years. Despite the long process of the EU integration, the country has been recently downgraded to a partly free hybrid regime with rapid decline of press freedom, high political and media polarization and raising political and economic instrumentalization of media. Against this background, the paper problematizes how the main structural transformations of the media environment, such as the transition from state to public broadcasting, the introduction of new media laws and the lengthy process of media privatization intersected and influenced different phases and outcomes of the digital transformation of journalism and news media in the country. Unlike the digital journalism development in established democracies of the West, the real systemic change and adaptation of Serbia’s media market to easy-to-use technologies, newsrooms convergence, profitable content and participatory journalism has been largely limited and overpowered by the interplay between the state and the media over the past two decades.

U ovom radu predstavljamo rezultate i uvide iz kvantitativnog i kvalitativnog istraživanja sa novinarima u Republici Srbiji o digitalnom nasilju kojem su izloženi. Istraživačko pitanje na koje pokušavamo da damo odgovor odnosi se na to kako se na digitalno nasilje odgovara i reaguje na ličnom-profesionalnom nivou pojedinačnog novinara, a kako na digitalno nasilje i ugrožavanje bezbednosti novinara reaguje sistem, kako medijski, tako i pravno-institucionalni. Osnovna hipoteza našeg rada je da usled izostanka adekvatne institucionalne podrške u slučajevima digitalnog nasilja, novinari i novinarke razvijaju specifične mehanizme samozaštite. U prvom delu rada, analiziramo medijski kontekst, dok u drugom delu rada izlažemo metodološki dizajn sprovedenog istraživanja. U trećem delu rada predstavljamo podatke iz kvantitatvne studije, dok u četvrtom delu rada predstavljamo uvide iz kvalitativne studije, odnosno intervjua sa novinarima i novinarkama., In this paper, we present the results and insights from quantitative and qualitative research with journalists in the Republic of Serbia about the digital violence they are exposed to. The research question that we are trying to answer relates to how digital violence is answered and reacted at the personal-professional level of an individual journalist, and how the system, both media and legal-institutional, reacts to digital violence and endangering safety of journalists. The hypothesis of our work is that due to the lack of adequate institutional support in cases of digital violence, journalists develop specific self-protection mechanisms. In the first part of the paper, we analyze the media context, while in the second part we present the methodological design of the conducted research. In the third part of the paper, we analyze data from the quantitative study, while in the fourth part we present insights from the qualitative research, interviews with journalists.

We explored links between competitive authoritarianism and populism in Serbia under Vučić via mixed methods. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of 228 political cartoons (2013–2017) by Dušan Petričić, a leading cartoonist and government critic, and qualitative visual and contextual analysis of four cartoons that reflected key themes—media freedom violations, unfair political competition, and populist and abusive rule. We found that populism appeared as the ‘soft’ face of competitive authoritarianism, tolerable to domestic audiences and acceptable to influential international actors because of its reliance on more informal and sophisticated and less repressive forms of authoritarian manipulation.

Istraživanja medijskog predstavljanja izbeglica i migranata intenzivirana su poslednjih godina, naročito od 2015. godine kada je iz zemalja Bliskog istoka zbog rata izbeglo nekoliko miliona ljudi. Dosadašnja akademska istraživanja o tome kakvo je novinarsko izveštavanje o migrantskoj krizi i sudbinama izbeglica uglavnom su fokusirana na medije Zapadne Evrope i Amerike i na analizu verbalnih narativa i diskursa tekstova u štampanim medijima. Manji broj istraživanja uzima u obzir i vizuelni medijski sadržaj, koji može da ima značajan uticaj na percepciju građana i formiranje stavova o migrantima i izbeglicama. U Srbiji, koja se nalazi na „Balkanskoj ruti“ i kroz koju je od početka migrantske krize prošlo preko milion ljudi sa Bliskog istoka i Afrike, istraživanja vizuelnog medijskog predstavljanja migracija su retka. Imajući u vidu ovaj kontekst, ovaj rad polazi od teorije medijskih okvira i istražuje vizuelno uokvirivanje izbeglica i migranata u devet štampanih i onlajn medija u Srbiji od 2015. do 2020. godine. Metodološki dizajn istraživanja, zasnovan na kvantitativnoj i kvalitativnoj analizi 469 fotografija, obuhvata denotativni, stilsko-semiotički i konotativni nivo vizuelnog medijskog uokvirivanja (Rodriguez and Dimitrova, 2011), kao i hronološki pregled dominantnih medijskih okvira i tehnika vizuelnog predstavljanja migranata u najčitanijim medijima u Srbiji., The research of media presentation of migrants and refugees has been intensified in recent years, especially after 2015 when several million people fled their homes from the war zones in the Middle East and Africa. Contemporary scholarship focusing on journalistic and media reporting on migrant crisis has been mainly researching Western European and the US media context, as well as verbal media narratives of print media outlets. Only a small number of papers examines visual media content, which can have a significant impact on citizens’ perceptions about migrants and refugees. In Serbia, a country situated on “the Balkans route” and which more than a million people from Middle East and Africa had crossed since 2015, visual depiction of migrants and refugees has been rarely researched. Against this background, the paper is based on media framing theory and examines visual framing of migrants and refugees in nine print and online media in Serbia from 2015 until 2020. Methodologically, the paper builds on mixed method research of 469 images analyzed within the denotative, stylistic-semiotic and connotative level of visual media framing (Rodriguez and Dimitrova, 2011), including the timeline analysis of dominant visual media frames and presentation techniques of migrants and refugees in the relevant media outlets in Serbia.

Veliki broj političara koristi vizuelni medijski sadržaj za potrebe lične promocije, predizbornih kampanja i za komunikaciju sa biračima. Pored televizijskih snimaka i fotografija u štampanim medijima, političari sve više koriste vizuelno-centrične digitalne platforme, poput Instagrama, Jutjuba, Snepčeta i TikToka, kako bi doprli do šire javnosti i obezbedili veću podršku. Jedan broj političara redovno koristi Instagram kao mrežu koja beleži ogroman rast u odnosu na druge poznate društvene mreže. Instagram je svojom vizuelnošću omogućio političku hiperindividualizaciju, pa se čini da su inače distancirani predsednici, premijeri i drugi političari sve „običniji” i bliži građanima. Jedan od njih je i predsednik Srbije Aleksandar Vučić, čiji je zvanični Instagram profil @buducnostsrbijeav poslednjih godina postao važan izvor informacija mejnstrim medijima u Srbiji, pa i Javnom medijskom servisu. Imajući u vidu ovaj kontekst, u radu se istražuje kako se na Instagram profilu predsednika Srbije vizuelno reprezentuju građani Srbije i kao objekat i kao izvor politike. Na osnovu kvantitativne i kvalitativne analize fotografija i video snimaka objavljenih u toku 2019. i 2021. godine, identifikuju se glavni vizuelni okviri u kojima se predstavljaju građani Srbije, kao i vizuelne strategije na osnovu kojih Aleksandar Vučić stupa u interakciju sa običnim ljudima, uspostavlja odnose sa pojedinim društvenim i profesionalnim grupama, a istovremeno šalje određene političke poruke., A large number of politicians often use visual media content for promotion, cam- paigning and communication with citizens. Alongside traditional visual con- tent, such as TV newscasts and images in print media, visual digital platforms and social media have become popular avenues for politicians to reach the au- dience and garner support. Some of them regularly use Instagram as a growing platform in recent years, which has contributed to political hyper-individualiza- tion and made “distanced” presidents, prime ministers and other political lead- ers more “ordinary” and closer to citizens. The Instagram account of Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s president, has become highly popular in recent years and high- ly relevant source of information for the mainstream media in Serbia, including the Public Broadcasting Service RTS. Against this background, this paper exam- ines how Serbia’s citizens have been visually represented on the president’s In- stagram. For that purpose, quantitative and qualitative content analysis of pho- tographs and videos published in 2019 and 2021 has been conducted. The study identifies the main visual frames in which the citizens of Serbia appear on this profile and discusses the leading visual strategies of Vučić’s interaction with the people in general and with specific social and professional groups

Lokalni mediji imaju važnu ulogu u informisanju lokalnih zajednica, razvoju medijskog pluralizma i oblikovanju stavova građana o značaj-nim društveno-političkim pitanjima. Lokalni mediji mogu da pod-staknu aktivizam građana u pravcu pokretanja važnih pitanja o ostva-rivanju prava na lokalne usluge, ali i da utiču na lokalne samouprave da kreiraju i sprovode politike usmerene ka rešavanju aktuelnih soci-jalnih i ekoloških izazova, kao što su siromaštvo, nerazvijena infra-struktura, zapuštenost javnih površina, zagađenost vazduha, reka, zemljišta itd. Dosadašnja istraživanja o lokalnim medijima uglavnom su usmerena na njihovu ekonomsku i tržišnu održivost, političku in-strumentalizaciju i profesionalizaciju kadrova, način informisanja, kao i na stepen participacije građana u proizvodnji medijskog sadrža-ja. Međutim, pitanja o tome da li i kako lokalni mediji utiču na lokalne vlasti da pokreću određene promene u zajednicama ostaju na margi-nama interesovanja istraživača. Imajući u vidu ovaj kontekst, ovaj rad istražuje uticaj lokalnih medija u Srbiji na lokalne samouprave u po-gledu kreiranja i sprovođenja javnih politika kojima se rešavaju soci-jalni i ekološki problemi. Metodološki, istraživanje je zasnovano na dubinskim intervjuima sa dvadeset novinara i novinarki lokalnih me-dija iz jedanaest gradova u Srbiji. Analiza intervjua pokazuje kako određene novinarske priče i medijska inicijativa utiču na to da lokalne vlasti rešavaju neko socijalno ili ekološko pitanje. Istovremeno, istra-živanje ukazuje na glavne prepreke i probleme sa kojima se novinari susreću u realizaciji ovih tema, Local media play an important role in informing local communities, developing media pluralism and shaping citizens’ perspectives about important social and political is-sues. Local media outlets also contribute to citizens’ activism and encourage debates about relevant problems, trying to impact local governments to create and implement credible policies and solve diversified problems, e.g., poverty, underdeveloped infra-structure, toxic air, water and soil etc. Contemporary scholarship dealing with local media has been mainly focused on their economic and market sustainability, political instrumentalization and staff professionalization, or citizens’ participation in the pro-duction of media content. However, questions about whether and how local media outlets influence local governments to drive changes in local communities and devel-op more transparent, fair and democratic policies have been largely marginalized in contemporary media research. Against this background, this paper examines the in-fluence of local media outlets in Serbia on the work of local governments and their ability to create and implement public policies which contribute to solving different social and environmental problems. Methodologically, this study is based on in-depth interviews with twenty journalists and editors of local media organizations from elev-en cities in Serbia. The analysis shows how certain journalistic stories and media ini-tiatives, coupled with citizens’ participation in the production of media contents, im-pact local governments to solve particular sets of social and environmental problems. At the same time, the study highlights the main groups of problems and barriers local journalists have been faced with in their professional reporting, which largely prevents the scope of their impact in local communities.

Studies suggest that, at the routine level, news beats function as unique “micro-cultures.” Exploring this “particularist” approach in news content, we compare how the interventionist, watchdog, loyal, service, infotainment, and civic roles materialize across 11 thematic news beats and analyze the moderating effect of platforms, ownership, and levels of political freedom on journalistic role performance in hard and soft news. Based on the second wave of the Journalistic Role Performance (JRP) project, this article reports the findings of a content analysis of 148,474 news items from 37 countries. Our results reveal the transversality of interventionism, the strong associations of some topics and roles, and the limited reach of news beat particularism in the face of moderating variables.

The 2010 Belgrade Pride Parade represents a critical moment in the story of Serbia's democratisation process and highlights the threat that right-wing extremism poses to democratic rights and personal freedoms. Through a focus on patterns of visibility and visuality in the coverage of different protagonists in the streets of Belgrade, we explore the ways in which distinct communities perform their affinities, their right to be seen in public spaces, and rejection of 'the other'. We conduct a visual framing analysis across four news programmes (RTS, Prva TV, TV B92 and Pink TV), emphasising the stylistic-semiotic choices which work to construct the contested spaces of the city. In shifting attention to how the news images work to create the spaces of political 'appearance' and the potentials for political agency through mediated visibility, the article explores the uneasy ambivalence of the democratisation process for authorities and the resulting marginalisation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in news coverage.

The paper examines key theoretical approaches that study the EU representa- tion in the media and that are present in the contemporary academic re- searches. The main theoretical concepts and analyses of the media reporting on the relevant EU issues in the EU member states and outside the EU have been identified. Looking into the most relevant and contemporary academic literature, the paper aims to explain how academic research has contributed to better understanding of the media representation of the EU, the relation- ship between the EU institutions and journalists, as well as the media effects related to citizens’ perceptions of the European Union., Rad se bavi teorijskim pristupima koji izučavaju medijsku reprezentaciju Evropske unije, a koji su prisutni u akademskim istraživanjima od početka dvehiljaditih godina do danas. U radu se identifikuju glavni teorijski koncepti i istraživački pravci koji su ključni za razumevanje medijskog izveštavanja o EU u zemljama članicama i državama Zapadnog Balkana. Glavni cilj ovog rada je da objasni na koji način akademska istraživanja u ovoj oblasti doprinose boljem razumevanju medijskog izveštavanja o EU, odnosa novinara sa EU institucijama i efekata medijske reprezentacije EU na stavove građana.

The authors regret to inform about an error in the affiliation of the corresponding author in the published version of this article. The correct affiliation of Dr. Bojan Janković should be: University of Belgrade, Department of Physical Chemistry, “Vinča” Institute of Nuclear Sciences – National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Mike Petrovića Alasa 12–14, P.O. Box 522, 11001 Belgrade, Serbia. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

We explored links between competitive authoritarianism and populism in Serbia under Vučić via mixed methods. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of 228 political cartoons (2013–2017) by Dušan Petričić, a leading cartoonist and government critic, and qualitative visual and contextual analysis of four cartoons that reflected key themes—media freedom violations, unfair political competition, and populist and abusive rule. We found that populism appeared as the ‘soft’ face of competitive authoritarianism, tolerable to domestic audiences and acceptable to influential international actors because of its reliance on more informal and sophisticated and less repressive forms of authoritarian manipulation.

Pancreatic carcinoma represents one of the most lethal malignant diseases in the world although some progress has been made in treating the disease in the past decades. Current multi-agent treatment options have improved the overall survival of patients, but more effective treatment strategies are still needed. In this paper we have characterized anticancer potential of coumarin-palladium(II) complex against pancreatic carcinoma cells. Cells viability, colony formation and migratory potential of pancreatic carcinoma cells were assessed in vitro, followed by evaluation of apoptosis induction and in vivo testing on zebrafish. Presented results showed remarkable reduction in pancreatic carcinoma cells growth both in vitro and in vivo, being effective at micromolar concentrations (0.5 M). Treatments induced apoptosis, increased BAX/BCL-2 ratio and suppressed the expression of SOX9 and SOX18, genes shown to be significantly up-regulated in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Importantly, treatments of the zebrafish-pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenografts resulted in significant reduction of tumor mass, while did not provoke any adverse toxic effects including hepatotoxicity. Presented results indicate the great potential of tested compound and the perspective of its further development towards pancreatic cancer therapy.

Pancreatic carcinoma still represents one of the most lethal malignant diseases in the world although some progress has been made in treating the disease in the past decades. Current multi-agent treatment options have improved the overall survival of patients, however, more effective treatment strategies are still needed. In this paper we have characterized the anticancer potential of coumarin-palladium(II) complex against pancreatic carcinoma cells. Cells viability, colony formation and migratory potential of pancreatic carcinoma cells were assessed in vitro, followed by evaluation of apoptosis induction and in vivo testing on zebrafish. Presented results showed remarkable reduction in pancreatic carcinoma cells growth both in vitro and in vivo, being effective at micromolar concentrations (0.5 mu M). Treatments induced apoptosis, increased BAX/BCL-2 ratio and suppressed the expression of SOX9 and SOX18, genes shown to be significantly up-regulated in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Importantly, treatments of the zebrafish-pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenografts resulted in significant reduction in tumor mass, without provoking any adverse toxic effects including hepatotoxicity. Presented results indicate the great potential of the tested compound and the perspective of its further development towards pancreatic cancer therapy.