What is the first thing that comes to citizens’ minds when they hear “Radio Television of Serbia”? In the online survey, the most common associations are “Dnevnik,” “news,” and “licence fee,” but “state television,” “censorship,” and “regime television” are also frequently mentioned. In short, RTS is perceived as a channel that is still watched out of habit and for information, but with doubts about its editorial independence.
When it comes to programmes, the most frequently singled out are “Dnevnik” and the quiz show “Slagalica,” while some respondents say they do not follow RTS at all. Ratings of programme segments confirm an ambivalent relationship: sports programming fares best (48.8% “good/very good”), followed by the morning programme (45.1%) and news/informative content (42.4%). Entertainment and educational programming receive the weakest ratings—only about one fifth view them positively, with a large share of “bad” and “very bad” evaluations.
The harshest judgement is reserved for RTS’s relationship with the authorities. Only 3.7% believe RTS is “fully” critical, while 51.8% say “not at all.” The pattern is similar for the licence fee: 55.5% assess that RTS “does not at all” justify the money it receives, and 38.4% believe it is not independent at all in shaping editorial policy. One third say they pay the licence fee regularly (33.5%), while 40.1% say they do not pay. On objectivity, only 6.0% answer “fully,” while 22.3% say “not at all.” As many as 29.3% do not believe RTS contributes to the democratisation of Serbia at all.
On average, respondents watch RTS 1.4 hours per day (median 1 hour), with a large number reporting “0.” The sample includes more women (58.7%), and the median age is 35.
In open-ended responses, the message to the editorial team is clear: fewer reruns, more children’s, educational, and cultural programming, more debate formats and investigative journalism—and visibly greater distance from day-to-day politics.
Methodological note: online survey (166 responses), self-selected sample; the results are not representative of Serbia’s population, but describe the views of the internet audience that participated in the study.
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