Weekly Reporter has appeared with the (now defunct) on-line edition since the start of publishing in May 1997.

From the impressum: Reporter biweekly was formed in the beginning of 1997 in Banja Luka by a group of young people who believe they can help to overcome the consequences of war and turn people towards the future and progress.

During the NATO attack on FR Yugoslavia and the censorship introduced against the media by the Serbian authorities, Repoter continued to publish interviews with the opposition politicians from Serbia and Montenegro and articles by independent journalists from Serbia. The Belgrade authorities responded by blocking the sale of the magazine in Serbia. This ban was relaxed after the war. However, in October 1999 Reporter was again "expelled" from Serbia. This ban cames after an agressive attempt by Reporter to capture a higher market share in Serbia. According to Steven Erlanger's article published by The New York Times on October 6 1999 ("Independent Serb Journalists Defend Their Work"), this campaign is financed by the American Government and allows Reporter to price itself lower than other similar publications in Serbia (it is interesting that the ban by the Serbian authorities was followed by an immediate increase in the price of the magazine, perhaps implying that the US Government has decided to withdraw its support now that Reporter cannot help in its goal of overthrowing Milosevic). The justification provided by the authorities for the ban was found in a series of articles about the new Serbian elite and Slobodan Milosevic's powerful wife Mira Markovic. The magazine responded to the ban by temporarily making full content of the banned issues available on-line.

Later in 1999 and in 2000, Reporter assumed a very critical stance with respect to the actions of pretty much the whole political establishment in Srpska, and the International Community representatives in B-H. This resulted in increasingly shrill attacks by the authorities of Prime Minister Milorad Dodik on the magazine and its editorial policy. Thus, for example, Dodik accused Reporter of "working against the interests of Srpska" and "collusion with anti-Serb circles in Sarajevo". The Prime Minister accused the paper of "publishing lies" about numerous corruption affairs. In response the magazine sued Dodik for slander. Due to continuing confiscations by the Serbian authorities, Reporter continued to have problems reaching its readers in Serbia.

In February 2003, the Banja Luka edition of Reporter broke off from the Reporter publishing company, managed by Perica Vucinic, after Vucinic declared bankruptcy of the Srpska edition. Reporter Banja Luka staff, led by Igor Gajic, editor of the Srpska edition of the magazine, accused Vucinic of siphoning off profits to over losses generated by the Belgrade edition of the magazine. Staff of the Banja Luka edition founded a new company, "OG Press" and continued to publish the magazine as Novi Reporter, or New Reporter, in March 2003. Igor Gajic is the editor-in-chief of Novi Reporter. The Belgrade edition of the magazine is still published as Reporter, but the web site of the magazine is not active anymore.

Srpska press
Last Update 8/31/2007