Populism, Media Reporting and (Mis)Use of Unnamed Sources: The Case of Serbian News Media

The research explores populist content in Serbian news media in a relation to challenges that journalism faces today - decreasing level of professionalism which, among the other issues, led to the absence of a journalistic gatekeeping role. Therefore, the research was focused on common journalistic practice, the treatment of specific type of journalistic sources – unnamed sources, which were established as a journalistic norm that indicates protection of sources in the media freedom context. According to the journalistic standards, unnamed sources are supposed to reveal abuse of power and bad governance. The research shows that journalists from pro-government tabloids use unnamed sources to promote mainstream populist political discourse and discredit opposition leaders by repeating key points promulgated by the ruling party in its defamation narratives. Instead of being used for revealing corruption or misuse of power, unnamed sources become a tool for labelling and defamation of political opponents and promoting populist governance.