News and comment

REGIONAL

• Al Jazeera Balkans: Very good at poaching the best columnists from other publications. Published in the local language(s).
• Anadolu news agency: Coverage of the region from the state-owned Turkish news agency (often of decent quality in spite of this). In the upper right there is a language choice button.
• Balkanbiro: Reporting and analysis covering the region, in German.
• BBC Serbian: Sort of like BBC, but in Serbian, and without quite so much Farage.
• 6yka: Political and cultural magazine from Banja Luka, brings together some of the best writers. Published in a variety of the official languages of Bosnia and Hercegovina.
• Deutsche Welle: Daily news and often a decent analytical piece. Press the “DW in 30 languages” button at the top for a choice of languages, one of which you are bound to like.
• Kontrapress: “We do not poison you with celebrities, sports, crime stories, entertainment and other commercial garbage.”
• Le Monde Diplomatique: The regional edition of the publication you all know and love.
• N1: Television station with separate news pages dedicated to Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina. Probably the best place to go when you want live coverage of something.
• Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso: Journalism with a bit of an ethnographic flavour. Articles in English, Italian, and Polycentric.
• Remarker: Emphasis on interviews related to politics, philosophy, and culture.
• Slobodna Evropa: Daily news, but it is the dossiers, interviews and weekly features that make it stand out. There is an English-language edition at this site.
• Tačno: Mostly essays and opinion from around the region, published by the “Centre for Critical Thought”. There is a selection of translations at their English language site.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

• BH Magazin: “The smarter people have deferred long enough!”
• Depo Portal: A depot of a portal.
• Dnevni Avaz: Populist daily paper from a big corporate publisher. The publisher puts out other publications, including BiH beekeeper.
• Dnevni List: The title means “daily paper,” and that is indeed what it is.
• Frontal: The blogs are the best feature.
• Glas Srpske: The title says it all. A fun place to follow innovations in the transliteralization of non-regional personal names (on the day this page was updated they had stories about Џесика Алба and Кортни Кардашијан).
• Klix: This used to be called Sarajevo-X and was one of the first BiH original news and opinion portals. They changed their name to Klix, in a tale that should be a cautionary example to anybody thinking of listening to a market consultancy.
• Nezavisne novine: The name means Independent paper. No, really, it does. That is a literal translation. From Banja Luka covering all of BH.
• Novo vrijeme: News portal with a positive attitude.
• Oslobođenje: Staying true to its roots since they were pulled out. It has a great history, but now it is owned by a brewery and a tobacco company. They have a short English language selection of daily articles published as Daily news.
• Poskok: Just in case you were not certain about their political orientation, they named themselves after a snake.
• Radio Sarajevo: News, essays, blogs and “dno dna”. The radio station with which they are affiliated is definitely not one of the worst, and it has a live stream on the page.
• Slobodna Bosna: A combination of news and analysis, probably one of the more exhaustive and better quality general news sites in BiH.

CROATIA

• 24sata.hr: The equivalent of those free papers that they pass out at train stations, and equally well suited to lighting a barbecue.
• Dnevnik: A news portal very much like other news portals.
• Forum.tm: Do you like polemics? Yes, you like polemics.
• H-Alter: For the “Hrvacka alternativa”.
• Index: Your portal for all kinds of stories, whether you wanted them or not.
• Jutarnji List: The daily paper for the morning, when you are still feeling optimistic. Also publishes the magazine Globus.
• Kulturpunkt: News, articles and announcements about (you guessed right) culture.
• Libela: All about gender and democracy.
• Lupiga: News, arguments, and more arguments, with the accent on culture.
• MAZ: News and a little bit of opinion from the Antifascist Network of Zagreb.
• Nacional: Yes, it is behind a paywall, but no, you don’t mind. Now it no longer exists, so you mind even less.
• Net.hr: A little bit of everything. No, a lot of everything. Highly recommended to people who like entertainment news and popup ads.
• Novi List: Sometimes this is an independent paper from Rijeka.
• Novosti: It really just keeps getting better. Do not confuse this with any other publication that goes by the name of Novosti, that way lies perdition.
• P-portal: I don’t know, maybe read this if the page of Novosti crashes?
• Slobodna Dalmacija: It’s an institution. Isn’t that enough?
• Slobodni filozofski: The rebellious students of the Faculty of Philosophy want you to know some things.
• Tportal: Quickly gathering together many of the best columnists.
• Večernji List: The daily paper for the evening, when your hopes have been crushed.
• Zagrebancija: Great title! Also, great title.

KOSOVO

• Bota Sot
• Gazeta Express
• Koha Ditore
• Kosova Sot
• Kosovo2.0: Opinion, culture, orientation to young people. All articles are in Albanian, Serbian, and English languages.
• Rilindja Demokratike

MACEDONIA

• Fokus: Not ficus.
• Kajgana: How can you fail to read a news site with a title like “scrambled eggs”?
• Koha: News and other things in Albanian language.
• Libertas: Political news and a wide selection of dessert recipes.
• Makfax News Agency: Be cautious.
• MIA: The state news agency. has nothing to do with the popular musician of the same name.
• MKD: General portal with all kinds of stuff.
• Net Press: An online only news agency.
• Nova Makedonija: The first Macedonian daily newspaper, they say.
• Nova TV: Comprehensive regional news portal, also with TV.
• Reporter: Find out what the regional celebrities are up to.
• Republika: News and opinion.
• Sitel: News site of the television station.
• Sloboden Pečat: A reasonably good daily paper.
• Standard: It’s standard.
• Telma: And where is Louise?
• Time: A frequently updated aggregator with items from all major local and national Macedonian sites.
• Večer: Good evening.

MONTENEGRO

• Dan: Do you like sensationalism? Me too, also they have a section on “lov and ribolov”.
• Monitor: Independent magazine, often provocative.
• Montenegrina: Culture and art in Montenegro. Also provides an English language site.
• Pobjeda: The traditional daily.
• Pod lupom: “Under the magnifying glass,” an investigative journalism portal. Includes a (very useful!) English language section.
• Vijesti: The portal is getting to be a little bit ambitious.

SERBIA

• B92: I am old enough to remember when they were independent and courageous. But I am very old. At least they are frequently updated. They also have an English language site.
• Blic: In between the features on celebrities, occasionally a good news story. The regional champion in printing HEADLINES you will NEVER BELIEVE in ALL CAPS!!
• CINS: The Centre for Investigative Journalism. Also has an English language site.
• Danas: An independent paper despite the occasional lapse here and there. La lotta continua.
• Informer: Start every day with an enemies list!
• Insajder: Longish-form journalism with a refined taste for stories on corruption and press freedom.
• KRIK: Your source for corruption news. Also in English, even if corruption is the universal language.
• Kurir: The bad boy of sensationalist tabloids, it shifted its political orientation but kept the same aesthetic.
• Nedeljnik: Your standard cheesy weekly news magazine.
• NIN: At one time it was edited by Frane Barbieri, but that was a long time ago.
• Noizz: Mostly entertainment stuff but here and there they will surprise you, pleasantly.
• Novi Magazin: It’s new. It has an English language site, which appears to have been last updated in 2016.
• NSPM: Answers the eternal question, “what do you do if you have a doctorate but are not a good scholar?”
• Peščanik: The weekly radio broadcast has become a portal for good essays, a selection of which are also available in English.
• Politika: According to Njuz.net, “still the oldest daily paper”. A tendentious selection of news articles and opinion essays covering the field from far right to extreme right.
• Večernje Novosti: The Velvet Underground of dubious tabloids — everyone who has ever read it has started one of their own. Other ones may be wilder, but they were demanding that Trieste be invaded before you were even born.
• Vice Serbia: Regional branch of the international grab bag magazine. The quality is often better than you expect.
• Vreme: A weekly news magazine. Like the weather, sometimes it is good.
• Beta news agency: It is a news agency, bless its little heart.
• Tanjug: Once the Yugoslav state news agency, it persists on existing in zombie form under dubious legal and ownership conditions. A good source of press releases from ruling and other far right parties. Includes an English language site.

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA

• Balkan Insight: News, features, commentary and interviews. Several special topical sections. Likes to hide its best stuff behind paywalls.
• B92 English: Like B92, for better or worse, but in English
• Pointpulse: Regional site on police integrity and trust.
• Total Croatia News: Emphasis on, you guessed, Croatia. A bunch of tourism stuff, but lately more journalism.