Coincidentally or not, on the eve of local elections in several cities and municipalities in Serbia, they appear new local media.
Three new portals - Serbia in the East, Palanačke vesti and Glas Aranđelovac - were registered on the same day, January 9, 2026, in the Agency for Economic Registers (APR). All are owned by the Novi Sad company Zaple Media Group doo, whose owner is Milica Lainović, while the director is Gradimir Banković.
Zaple Media Group is only a month older than the portals themselves, as the company was founded on December 11, 2025, according to APR data.
Three new ones media they have already started working.
Portal Serbia in the east covers Kladovo, Majdanpek, Negotin, Bor and Zaječar. Palanack News deals with Smederevo Palanka, while Glas Aranđelovac covers that local self-government.
There is no imprint on any of the three sites, and the texts are not signed with the names of the authors.
Already in the first announcements, it is clear that the three new media are conducting "anti-blockade" propaganda.
Same editor-in-chief
According to data from the Media Registry, Gradimir Banković is registered as the editor-in-chief of all three portals, which means that one person edits the media covering the various local governments where elections are held this year.
Banković is also the owner and director of the company Elementum Media doo from Novi Sad, registered for the production and broadcasting of television programs, as well as the legal representative of the association "Kogitatum centar", which in 2021 received funds from the Ministry of Environmental Protection in a competition intended for civil society organizations.
In recent years, he has appeared in public as an analyst and guest in the media, representing the Center for Social Stability, an organization known for the production of propaganda films for the Serbian Progressive Party and the organization of the so-called anti-blockades, he announced on the occasion of the establishment of these three media ANEM.
Preparations for local and other elections
"It is certainly connected with the local elections. In some areas, there is already increased repression against activists and journalists, such as the case in Bor. On the one hand, the capacity to influence the public is being strengthened, and on the other hand, independent media are being stifled by pressure," says the president of the ANEM Board of Directors. Veran Matić for "Vreme".
He reminds that the Center for Social Stability was also active in the organization of pro-government protests and that it is increasingly asserting itself as a structure acting in the function of the government.
"We are witnessing the accumulation of media and the creation of a network that will be coordinated, and at its center is the Center for Social Stability," adds Matić.
According to him, local elections are only one part of the wider picture.
"This is an introduction to everything that awaits us during this and the next year, protests and national elections. Shutting down the accounts of newsrooms, photographers and activists on social networks acts as a demonstrative exercise for the pressures that will follow," says Matić.
Regular local elections this year are being held in Arandjelovac, Bor, Bajina Bašta, Kladovo, Knjaževac, Kula, Lučani, Majdanpek, Smederevska Palanka and Sevojno..
Distribution of funds for co-financing
Apart from the election, the reason for establishing new media could also lie in future tenders for media co-financing.
"At the same time, new media are being intensively opened in order to get involved as soon as possible in the distribution of funds from project co-financing. Competitions for state funding will be announced soon, and last year, let me remind you, more than 15 million euros almost entirely ended up in pro-government media", concludes Matić.
