Tanjug
Tanjug was the sole state-run news agency in Serbia. Established in 1943, Tanjug was shut down in 2015 and privatized in 2021.
Media assets
News agency: Tanjug
Television: Tanjug TV
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
Tanjug was a state-controlled news agency until 2015, when the Serbian government officially stopped funding it and announced its closure. Although the legal status was ambiguous for several years, the formal state-enterprise known as Tanjug was deleted from the Serbian Business Registers Agency (APR) on 9 March 2021.
In its place, a private company called Tačno d.o.o. (also referred to as Tanjug Tačno) was founded on 17 November 2020. Tačno obtained a 10-year licence (from 2021) to use the intellectual property, trademarks, online portal, logo, slogan, and part of the archive of the former Tanjug agency. Ownership of Tačno is split: Radiotelevizija Pančevo (RTV Pančevo) holds 60%, and Minacord Media (controlled by singer Željko Joksimović and media manager Manja Grčić) holds 40%. The director of Tačno (and thus de facto head of the “new” Tanjug) is Manja Grčić.
As of August 2024, there have been reports of dismissals among Tanjug journalists apparently for expressing support for students, which suggests continuing pressures on personnel linked to editorial or political control.
Source of funding and budget
For the former state-run Tanjug (before its deletion in 2021), the agency was wholly or largely financed by state subsidies. The last reported subsidy from the government before the formal dissolution was RSD 20.7 million (US$210,000) in 2015.
After 2021, under Tačno, Tanjug Tačno operates as a private company. According to available data for 2024, Tačno had revenue of about €5.76 million, net income of €0.26 million, assets of €2.05 million, and about 208 employees.
Editorial independence
Before its privatization/licensing to Tačno, Tanjug had been widely regarded as an official (or de facto) mouthpiece of the Serbian government. Its editorial output was strongly pro-government, and there was little to no independent oversight.
Since Tačno took over (2021 onward), there have been concerns among journalists and civil society that editorial policy has not significantly changed. Instances of dismissals (or resignations) of staff allegedly for political or protest-related expression have been reported.
September 2025