How digital platforms shape access to news in South-East Europe and Türkiye

For many newsrooms in South-East Europe, publishing a story is no longer enough. Whether that story reaches the public now depends heavily on social media feeds, search results, recommendation systems, and platform rules – mechanisms that are often difficult to understand, predict, or challenge.

A new study sheds light on how these dynamics are reshaping the media landscape across the region. Published by the South-East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) and supported by UNESCO, within the framework of EU-funded project 'Building Trust in Media in South-East Europe: Support to Journalism as a Public Good', it examines this shifting reality in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Türkiye. 

The publication, ‘Governance of Social Media Platforms and Regulation of Online Media’, offers a regional analysis accompanied by detailed country annexes (available in English and local languages), as well as national risk assessments on digital platforms and media regulation.

The research draws on interviews and questionnaires with 71 small, medium, and large media outlets across the region: 10 in Albania, 10 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 8 in Montenegro, 14 in North Macedonia, 12 in Serbia, and 17 in Türkiye. Among them, 32 outlets are members of press and media councils, reflecting a strong commitment to ethical and professional standards. 

Findings reveal that platforms have become essential gateways to audiences, especially for digital-native, local, and public-interest media, helping media reach new communities, but also creating new dependencies. Newsrooms increasingly adapt headlines, formats, posting times, and visual content to platform logic. Media outlets, however, often lack the staff, technical skills, and financial resources to keep pace with algorithmic changes or pay for visibility - challenges that intensify during electoral periods.