MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF ESPORTS CULTURE IN SERBIA

Through a mixed-methods approach, this paper aims to research the representation of esports culture in Serbian media, specifically focusing on three news sites: Nova, Republika, and Sport Klub. Esports were insufficiently represented through Serbian media, making up less than 0.1% of all sports-related articles in 2023. Sport Klub had the most esports content, while Republika had the least. Nova and Republika had mostly reported on the Serbian esports scene, while Sport Klub had focused on the international. However, there were more articles about the interna-ional esports scene. Popular video games League of Legends and Counter-Strike 2 had received the most media attention (90%), while other esports had an insignificant number of articles (8%). The final 2% were articles that were not related to esports. This research highlights the need for improvement of media reporting on esports, as well as the necessity of a multi-layered journalistic approach towards this growing industry.