They say that the worst thing that can happen to a journalist is to become news. In the case of the ban on entering Serbia, which the Vučić regime imposed on me as an announced countermeasure to the Montenegrin authorities' decision to ban the editor of Informer, Dragan J. Vučićević, due to the continued spread of hate speech, this is only partially true.
First, the system shows worrying signs of sluggishness, as the decision that I was undesirable was unofficially communicated to me when I was leaving the country, so in the end I was not even handed a solution. Second, such an unexplained move brings the targets of these malicious actions more points and marketing than even the most dedicated PR teams would provide them. Therefore, I owe them a debt of gratitude.
Dictatorship systems in their early stages throw all their cards at the homogenization of their own ranks, attempting to attribute their dark practices and intentions to designated enemies in a Goebbelsian manner.
In Montenegro, we know from the experience with Milo Đukanović, the disillusioned and outgoing regimes rush from one mistake to another. Where they have made wrong assessments, they will have time to reconsider, and I am sure that there will be some to remind them and question or interrogate them. Dictatorship systems in their advanced stages throw all their cards at the homogenization of their own ranks, trying to attribute their dark practices and intentions to the designated enemies in a Goebbels-like manner.
I fear that in Serbia, professional and critical journalism has long been inaccessible to a wider audience, that national frequencies have been distributed to impersonal media services, and that public service and regulatory bodies have been reduced to puppet caricatures, with the intention of silencing those who are increasingly raising questions and exposing bestial campaigns that are destroying our societies in the long term through lies, substitution of theses, and stigmatization of dissenters.
Even Đukanović did not demonstrate such obsessiveness in dealing with journalists as Vučić.
I speak from experience. The Montenegrin Vijesti platform, with which I collaborate and on which the author's TV show Načisto is broadcast, has survived numerous attacks by the Đukanović regime, malicious campaigns, court cases, denial of frequencies, financial strangulation, blackmail, beatings, wiretapping, monitoring. Although I must admit that Đukanović, despite the above, has not demonstrated such obsessiveness in dealing with professional journalism and common sense as his Serbian colleague and former close associate, Mr. Vučić.
This is one of the reasons why critical media outlets, such as Vijesti, had the highest ratings and trust during the era of Đukanović's DPS, as well as today, even among his supporters who knew that in the end, they would find out from those addresses when it was time to abandon the sinking ship.
In 2020, many of them swam aboard the shaky ship that, after Đukanović's dismissal six years ago, was steered by as many as three prime ministers, and now, crucially thanks to Brussels' navigation and desire for expansion, it is being led towards Europe by Milojko Spajić, whom official Belgrade, in collusion with Đukanović and other associates, tried to exclude from the election race, brandishing his undisclosed Serbian passport.
The media that played a crucial role in the overthrow of Đukanović's arrogant and criminalized centers of power did not, as expected, make a deal with the liberators of August 30th, but continued with the same ferocity to cover the new rulers who adopted and even improved the techniques of their greedy predecessors, who saw the state and government as tools for personal enrichment. That is why today, Prime Minister Spajić, launched from our studio, following the example of Đukanović, prefers to boycott Vijesti and my author's show, in an amateur attempt to reduce the influence, viewership and undeniable trust that has been gained over decades through a critical attitude towards all holders of power.
The Vučić regime's decision to turn its, as my colleague and writer Balša Brković would say, garden gnome from the infamous Informer, into a journalist and respectable citizen through reciprocal bans is unlikely to pass muster even within his own party.
Let's go back to the beginning - the decision of the Vučić regime to turn its, as my colleague and writer Balša Brković would say, garden gnome from the infamous Informer, into a journalist and respectable citizen through reciprocal bans is unlikely to pass muster even in his party. The majority of the Montenegrin public has already seen off this obscenity and the media tycoons led by Vladimir Bebo Popović home once, at a time when Đukanović and Vučić were dividing up territories and exchanging media whips to discipline civil activists and political enemies.
The printed edition of Informer was banned ten years ago due to an unprecedented misogynistic campaign against the leader of MANS and Đukanović's most persistent critic, Vanja Ćalović, and the cup was overflowed by the scandalous front page "Siptar's Swine", for which even the then subdued Montenegrin society had no stomach.
The authorities in Belgrade and Podgorica do not like awkward questions
Informer is back in new, more sinister forms that are well-known to the Serbian public. It was banned again recently due to continued hate speech and chauvinistic TV rants in which the tabloid's owner called Montenegrins cattle, neo-Ustasha, and scum, in a transparent effort to portray his boss as a victim once again after the scandal in Tivat, where a tattooed fan team, accompanied by a state delegation from Belgrade, landed at the airport with political pamphlets, radio stations, and thick files.
The Montenegrin security system responded by deporting the team that was sent to Montenegro at a time when dozens of European delegations and the most influential European officials were present on its territory, who made no secret of the fact that this was an unofficial accession of the country to the EU.
I assume that the Serbian authorities did not like that the professional media in Montenegro was engaged in exposing the tabloid spin that followed this story. They also did not like that we were emphasizing in our programs the extradition of the head of the OKG Svetozar Marović, who was finally convicted in Podgorica, while Belgrade claims that only Podgorica exports criminals to Serbia.
Perhaps the Prime Minister of Montenegro and his entourage will be made wise by the warm welcome he is already receiving in the Serbian regime media, along with coalition partner Andrij Mandić, who has recently also been listed among the traitors of Serbianness, due to his experienced decision that it may be time to escape Vučić's grip.
I am sure that the regime in Belgrade is not pleased that we often ask Vučić's political companions in Montenegro why, after the fall of Đukanović, they are advocating for a stronger influence of a regime that is at least as dehumanized and criminalized as the one we together overthrew in Montenegro.
Why are they silent when protesters in Serbia are trampled and beaten on the streets, why don't they speak out when they recognize the farcical court processes they themselves were exposed to in Podgorica, as in the case of the infamous coup, when Đukanović's special prosecutors referred precisely to Serbian President Vučić, who initially supported their construction.
Official Belgrade is certainly bothered by the fact that my show openly problematizes the revisionist mission of their political and church vassals, the glorification of convicted war criminals, and the destruction of anti-fascist heritage.
And I believe that their eyes and ears are particularly pricked when the Montenegrin public hears that their political branches in Montenegro, for example, are pushing a resolution on the indisputable genocide in Jasenovac, and that this text has not been adopted by the Serbian parliament for the third time, because their political mentor, who avoids the word genocide, assessed that it would be bad for the country and for relations with the Croats, who are now putting up barriers against Montenegro.
Official Belgrade, which accuses Montenegro of betraying Kosovo, probably doesn't like it when its envoys are asked what they think of the position of prominent Serbian lawyers that the government there has recognized Pristina - de facto and de iure.
Official Belgrade is certainly bothered by the fact that my show openly problematizes the revisionist mission of their political and church vassals, the glorification of convicted war criminals, and the destruction of anti-fascist heritage.
This is where the roots of the intention to equate tabloid and inflammatory campaigns with legitimate and essential journalistic issues through alleged reciprocity lie. The Vijesti platform is the most influential, as are its authors. Many national frequencies in Montenegro have already fallen under the influence of dubious capital and owners close to the Vučić regime, thanks to the cowardice of the local authorities and the naive logic that even a final showdown with Vijesti would benefit them. Perhaps the prime minister and his entourage will be wised up by the warm hare that they are already passing through in the Serbian regime media, together with coalition partner Andrija Mandić, who has recently also been classified as a traitor to Serbianness, due to the experienced decision that it may be time to escape from Vučić's grip.
The cowardice of official Podgorica is also reflected in the fact that entry bans are imposed on media personnel and contractors while the prime minister and president flirt with campaign sponsors, and the state does not find a systematic way to protect itself from such influences. The consequences of such a relationship could be felt even more convincingly on the skin, since elections are approaching in both countries.
The author is a journalist and the author of the show "Načisto" on Television Vijesti
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