The role of media assistance in the establishment of public service broadcasting in Serbia

This article investigates the extent to which Serbian media institutions that have been initiated and supported through media assistance programmes have actually reached a level of sustainability and functionality. Analysing the establishment and transformation of public service broadcasters in Serbia, the author discusses the main achievements, failures and challenges of media assistance programmes that aim to contribute to Serbia’s democratization. As media institutions in transition countries are often designed after similar institutions in Western European democracies, the outcomes regularly differ from the initial model. This article sheds light on the question of what happens to imported models when they are transposed onto the newly evolving media systems of transitional societies using the case of Radio-Television of Serbia.