COLLABORATIVE JOURNALISM IN POLARIZED MEDIA AGENDAS: CASE STUDY OF THE PANDORA PAPERS IN SERBIA

Collaborative journalism is a key aspect of investigative reporting, enabling in-depth research through teams of journalists across countries. It allows local journalists, often facing economic and political pressures, to conduct thorough investigations that would be difficult to manage independently. However, in a polarized media environment, collaborative journalism often reflects the agendas of both sides of the media divide. This paper examines how the Pandora Papers (2021) became part of Serbia’s polarized media agendas, focusing on the exposure of Serbian officials’ offshore business activities through KRIK’s investigative network. The analysis compares the perception of these findings in two opposing media outlets (anti-government N1 and pro-government Informer) as well as the public broadcaster RTS, revealing how the findings were interpreted to align with ideological stances. The results indicate that the findings of investigative journalists were interpreted in ways that aligned with the ideological matrices of one or the other side of the media divide.