REM opens proceedings against six TV stations over minors

The council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) has opened proceedings against six television stations over political propaganda programming that used minors. The decision was made at an emergency session on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, and was made public by council member Rodoljub Sabic in a post on X. The sources we read contain no official statement from REM.

Which broadcasters face proceedings?

The proceedings target six broadcasters:

• Radio Television of Serbia (RTS)
• Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV)
• B92
• Pink
• Prva Television
• K1

Sabic gave the reason and the list in his post, and we reproduce the text of the decision word for word:

The REM council decided at today’s emergency session to open proceedings against RTS, RTV, B92, Pink, Prva Television and K1 for broadcasting political propaganda programming in which minors were used.

He also cited the legal provision the council relies on. It is Article 66 of the Law on Electronic Media, which reads: “The use of minors’ participation in programme content for political purposes, or its abuse, is prohibited.”

Whom did the programming favor, according to Sabic?

According to N1, Sabic added in a comment under his original X post that in every case the minors were used to benefit the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” electoral list, formed around the Serbian Progressive Party. The same source says N1 television will not air the spot until REM reaches a decision. None of the six stations’ responses to the proceedings appear in the sources we read.

What is known, and what is not?

The sources do not say what exactly the spot shows, how many times it aired, or what deadline the stations have to respond. It is also unknown how the council will vote on any penalties, since for now this is only the opening of proceedings.

The council is dealing with the campaign on other fronts too. At its first regular session, covered by Cenzolovka, the seven members present failed to adopt the expert service’s report on monitoring 11 television stations during the first 15 days of the election campaign. Three members voted for the report: council president Stevica Smederevac and members Milos Garic and Milan Petkovic. That was not enough, and the service was told to supplement it.

At the same session, according to Cenzolovka, the head of the monitoring service, Srdjan Miljkovic, said that 13 complaints against television stations over campaign coverage had arrived between September 9 and October 5. Sabic himself filed four of them, against B92, Superstar television, TV Informer and TV Prva. The council then unanimously opened two proceedings against TV Informer.

We previously reported that REM’s expert service concluded that the applications by N1 and Nova S for broadcasting licenses in Serbia were incomplete and had been returned for supplementing.