The European Union is often considered a powerful force in democracy promotion in its neighbourhood, widely being credited with the successful democratisation of many Central and Eastern European...Show moreThe European Union is often considered a powerful force in democracy promotion in its neighbourhood, widely being credited with the successful democratisation of many Central and Eastern European countries (Dimitrova & Pridhram, 2004; Pop-Eleches, 2007; Schimmelfennig, 2007). It is all the more puzzling therefore that this successful push for democratisation has not materialised in the Western Balkans, where many countries, despite their status as candidate member states of the union, have experienced prolonged periods of democratic backsliding (Castaldo, 2020, 1633). Why is the EU’s strategy to promote democratic performance failing here? Several researchers have pointed towards the EU’s own policy agenda as an important contributor to the decrease in democratic performance (Huszka, 2018, 361; Castaldo, 2020, 1633). This thesis set out to contribute to these studies by analysing the effects of an EU-sponsored media reform in Serbia that has been accused of decreasing media freedom in the country (Freedom House, 2016; Huszka, 2018, 361; Castaldo, 2020, 1630-1631). Through a mixed quantitative and qualitative content analysis, it aimed to answer the question: how has the EU-sponsored media strategy impacted progovernment bias in the Serbian media? It found that pro-government bias in the media was not significantly affect by the media strategy.Show less
