Serbian Daily Accused of 'Fascism' for Probing PM's Brother

Serbia's pro-government tabloid, Informer, well known for making savage attacks on critics of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, on Wednesday evening on its portal accused the editor-in-chief of the politically liberal daily Danas, Dragoljub Petrovic, of being a "fascist".

The blast came after Danas published a story on Tuesday detailing the career of the Prime Minister's brother and his alleged influence on the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

Informer's unsigned article, entitled "New fascistic excess of Danas", accused Petrovic of attacking Vucic's brother, Andrej, without any evidence on the bidding of wealthy financier George Soros.

On Wednesday, Informer also targeted the general director of the national broadcaster TV RTS 1, Dragan Bujosevic, over a meeting he held with members of the opposition, comparing the TV station to a brothel.

The attack came after members of the opposition parties held a meeting with Bujosevic on Wednesday to discuss fair and objective reporting.

The new attacks come a week after Informer accused several investigative media outlets in Serbia, including BIRN, of working as foreign mercenaries for the CIA and others.

Under the front-page headline, "America and the EU paying liars and racketeers", Informer accused the investigative media organizations KRIK, CINS and BIRN, as well as the daily paper Kurir, of being financed by Western countries and intelligence services to destabilise the government.

Informer is known for its controversial reporting style. A press survey conducted by Serbia's Press Council found that Informer broke the country's media ethical code of conduct over 763 times over 180 days in 2016.

The latest European Commission report on Serbia issued early in...