( sr-Cyrl, Политика, lit=Politics) is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. Founded in 1904 by

Vladislav F. Ribnikar Vladislav Franc Ribnikar ( sr-Cyrl, Владислав Франц Рибникар; 13 November 1871 – 1 September 1914) was a Serbian journalist, known for founding ''Politika'', the oldest Serbian daily. He led the newspaper from the day it ...

, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

Publishing and ownership

is published by Politika novine i magazini (PNM), a joint venture between

Politika a.d. Politika Types of business entity#Serbia, a.d. (full legal name: ''Politika a.d. Beograd'') (Belgrade Stock Exchange, BELEXPLTK is a Serbian media corporation founded in present form in 2005, and it has continually existed in various legal forms ...

and East Media Group. The current director of PNM is Mira Glišić Simić. PNM also publishes: *''

Sportski žurnal ''Sportski žurnal'' (Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and ...

'' *''

Politikin Zabavnik ''Politikin Zabavnik'' (Serbian Cyrillic: Политикин Забавник) is a popular magazine in Serbia, published by Politika Newspapers and Magazines. The first issue came out on 28 February 1939. In the beginning it was printed in the ...

'' *''

Svet kompjutera ''Svet kompjutera'' (''World of Computers'') is a computer magazine published in Serbia. It has a circulation of about 50,000 and is owned by the media company Politika AD. ''Svet kompjutera'' deals with subjects on home, PC computers, table ...

'' *''Ilustrovana Politika'' *''Bazar''

History

Since its launch in January 1904, was published daily, except for several periods: *Due to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, there were no issues from 14 November 1914 to 21 December 1914, and again from 23 September 1915 to 1 December 1919. *Due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there were no issues from 6 April 1941 to 28 October 1944. *In protest against the government's intentions to turn into a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

, a single issue was not published in the summer of 1992. The launch issue had only four pages and a circulation of 2,450 copies, and its record high circulation was the 25 December 1973 issue (634,000 copies).

Reporting during the Yugoslav Wars

In the run-up to and during the

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

and the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

, was under the control of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

and the

League of Communists of Serbia The League of Communists of Serbia (, abbr. SKS), known as the Communist Party of Serbia (, abbr. KPS) until 1952, was the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Serbia, political party of Socialist Republic of Serbia, Serbia from 19 ...

and was used for political purposes. It was used to publish controversial things such as the "

Vojko i Savle "''Vojko i Savle''" ( English: Vojko and Savle) is the title of the defamatory article targeting Serbian communist Gojko Nikoliš that was printed during early 1987 in the state-owned ''Politika'' daily. The term also refers to the subsequent po ...

" article, as well as an information guide to show what was allegedly happening to the Serbs in other republics, together with the

Radio Television of Serbia The Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly referred to as Radio Television of Serbia (), or RTS (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Serbia. RTS has four organizational units – radio, television, music pro ...

. It blamed the local

Kosovo Albanians The Albanians of Kosovo (, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars (), constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the Albanians, ethnic Albanian sub-group of Ghegs, who inhabit the ...

for sodomizing

Đorđe Martinović Đorđe ( sr-Cyrl, Ђорђе; transliterated Djordje) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, common in Serbian. It is derived from Greek ''Georgios'' (''George'' in English). Other variants include: Đurđe, Đurađ, Đura, Đuro, Georg ...

, and published fabricated reader letters claiming that the Albanians were "raping hundreds of Serbian women". Before and during the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, it published opinions on how "blood may shed again" in Croatia because of World War II, published claims on how the Vatican funded Croatia to break up Yugoslavia. At the end of the

Battle of Vukovar The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991. Before the Croatian War of Independence the Bar ...

, it ran the fabricated story of the Vukovar children massacre. The article was however retracted with a statement published the following day.

After the Yugoslav Wars

According to the investigative journalist organisation KRIK, ''Politika'' published over 96 biased and unfounded articles in its newspaper in 2024.

Notable persons

Editors

(1904–1915) *Miomir Milenović and Jovan Tanović (1915–1941) *Živorad Minović (1985–1991) *Aleksandar Prlja (1991–1994) *Boško Jakšić (1994) *Dragan Hadži Antić (1994–2000) *Vojin Partonić (2000–2001) *Milan Mišić (2001–2005) *

Ljiljana Smajlović Ljiljana Smajlović (née Ugrica; born 22 January 1956, Sarajevo, PR Bosnia-Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian journalist and the former editor of ''Politika'', the oldest daily newspaper in the Balkans. From 2009 to 2017, she was the pr ...

(2005–2008) *Radmilo Kljajić (2008) *Dragan Bujošević (2008–2013) *

(2013–2016) *Žarko Rakić (2016–2021) *Marko Albunović (since 2021)

Associates

Verica Rupar Verica Rupar (born 17 March 1957) is a Serbian–New Zealand journalist and academic, and is professor of journalism at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Academic career Rupar earned an honours degree in political science at the Universi ...

, journalist * Hamza Humo, writer *

Ivo Andrić Ivo Andrić ( sr-Cyrl, Иво Андрић, ; born Ivan Andrić; 9 October 1892 – 13 March 1975) was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1961. His writ ...

, writer * Zija Dizdarević, journalist

References

External links

*
Archives
of ''Politika'' (1941–1994) via . {{Authority control Mass media in Belgrade Newspapers published in Serbia Newspapers published in Yugoslavia Newspapers established in 1904 Serbian brands