Manya Grčić, director of the Serbian state broadcaster RTS, resigned on 28 October — the day after the winners of the parliamentary elections demanded her dismissal. They accused the broadcaster of possible bias in its coverage of events in favour of former President Aleksandar Vučić.
“Manya Grčić has stepped down as Director-General of RTS. Her resignation was demanded by the RTS staff union, informal groups of company employees and the ‘Student List’,” the broadcaster stated on its website.
According to RTS, before stepping down, Grčić dismissed the editor-in-chief of the news programme and proposed a candidate to replace him. In her resignation statement, she explained that she had decided to leave “believing that this is in the best interests of the organisation”.
In recent years, journalists and media monitoring organisations have reported increasing pressure on independent media, including threats, legal action and intimidation.
In the snap parliamentary elections on 25 October, a student-backed list secured a historic victory over the right-wing nationalist Serbian Progressive Party, bringing its 14-year rule to an end. The victory of the ‘Student List’ was the culmination of two years of fierce protests that began following the 2024 tragedy in Novi Sad, when a canopy collapsed at the railway station, killing 16 people.