The Council of Europe and the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) jointly presented the findings of comprehensive research on the needs, habits and preferences of media users in Serbia to the Permanent Expert Working Group on Media Literacy, consisted of representatives from public sector. The presentation brought new empirical evidence into discussions on how media literacy initiatives can better respond to the ways citizens actually access, select and assess information.

The research, supported by the Council of Europe and commissioned for REM, examined how people in Serbia use different media and platforms, what influences their choice of information sources, how they assess trust and reliability, and how different patterns of media consumption may affect their exposure to disinformation and other forms of harmful content.

During the joint presentation, the Council of Europe and REM highlighted findings showing an increasingly fragmented media environment in which patterns of information consumption differ considerably by age and other socio-demographic characteristics. Television continues to play an important role in reaching broad audiences, while social media and digital platforms are particularly prominent among younger users. At the same time, trust is often selective: citizens may express limited trust in the media environment generally while maintaining considerably stronger trust in particular outlets, journalists or sources they regularly follow.

The presentation highlighted the relevance of these findings for media literacy. Exposure to disinformation cannot be understood only by examining the content being produced. How users find information, which sources they choose, why they trust them, whether they cross-check information and how digital platforms shape their information environment are equally important. The exchange with members of the Permanent Working Group provided an opportunity for the Council of Europe and REM to discuss how empirical evidence can support more targeted media literacy policies and activities in Serbia.

The activity contributes to broader Council of Europe efforts, in cooperation with REM and other national partners, to strengthen media literacy, access to reliable and pluralistic information and societal resilience to disinformation, while safeguarding freedom of expression.

Report on Media User Preferences in English and in Serbian language.

The research was conducted through the Action “Protecting freedom of expression and of the media in Serbia (PROFREX)”, implemented by the Division for Co-operation on Freedom of Expression, under the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.