Media and International Relations: Serbian Media Narrative on the EU in Light of the “Lithium Crisis” in Serbia

Abstract

In this article, the authors address the Serbian media narrative about the EU’s communication on lithium mining in Serbia. In an effort to answer the question of how this narrative can influence the positioning of the EU on Serbia as a candidate country for EU membership, the authors have made a research based on a quantitative–qualitative analysis of media coverage, drawing on a sample of 192 articles (N = 192) published by four Serbian online news portals (RTS, N1, B92, and Blic). The analysis leads to two main conclusions: (1) It indicates an inversion in the general approach to foreign policy orientation across the analyzed media platforms. The customary discourses on Serbia’s foreign policy trajectory temporarily diverged from established patterns—specifically, the fervently pro‑Western orientation characteristic of anti‑government platforms and the ostensibly West‑sceptical orientation typical of pro‑government media. This reinforces the argument that the primary structuring line of media discourse in Serbia lies in the division between pro‑regime and anti‑regime orientations. (2) Media repositioning has exerted a pronounced negative effect on pro‑European segments of the Serbian public, reactivating the thesis of “stabilocracy”, conceptualized as the dynamic relationship between authoritarian regimes in the Balkans and their external supporters. According to the authors, the EU’s inability to anticipate the drastic negative shift in public sentiment toward it—particularly among those segments of Serbian society that had been most supportive—or, alternatively, its decision to continue pursuing its own economic interests despite such awareness, underscores the profound flaws in the political communication it employed in this case