Good relations between Serbia and Montenegro cannot be built on a campaign against the Montenegrin authorities carried out by the media under the control of the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić - assessed a political analyst from Belgrade, Cvijetin Milivojevic.
He says that the president of Serbia is the "chief editor" of the media that these days most brutally attacks Montenegrin officials for the adoption of the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica in the Assembly of Montenegro.
"From the front pages and main messages of those media, you can see that they were squeezed by one hand, i.e. one brain. They are now only descriptively different from each other. Whoever really wants good relations between Serbia and Montenegro, that is, Serbs and Montenegrins, cannot build them in this way. This is even an insult to the common sense of the Serbian electorate in Montenegro," said Milivojević to "Vijesta".
Government, Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic and the Speaker of the Parliament Aleksa Becic are the main targets of the Belgrade pro-government media campaign after the adoption of the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica. These media have been accusing Krivokapić and Bečić for days that they "condemned the Serbs for genocide" with the Resolution, calling them "traitors", which is identical to the narrative promoted by the Democratic Front in Montenegro. The media attacks were joined by the state leadership of Serbia led by Vučić, who announced that Montenegro wants to "put a mark on every member of the Serbian people" with the resolution.
The media, which for years were in the service of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and served for the most brutal campaigns against critics of the government, and which, after the cooling of the relationship between the leaders of the DPS, also participate in the campaign Milo Đukanović and Vučić "moved" into the arms of the Democratic Front (DF).
Milivojević believes that everything that Vučić's regime is doing these days under the guise of supporting Serbs in Montenegro is completely counterproductive.
"This is a disservice to DF. This pro forma alliance has the support of the official Belgrade, which tries to present it as a kind of auxiliary party, that is, as the Serbian List in Kosovo. This is not good for DF, because it should be borne in mind that its electorate is limited. Therefore, the DF - even if it does better in the next elections - cannot form a government without coalition partners. If you have offended all the potential coalition partners, then the big question is whether it will be a Pyrrhic victory," the interlocutor points out.
Journalist Vesna Rajković Nenadić tells "Vijesti" that part of the Belgrade media and officials continue a fierce campaign against Montenegro.
"The only new thing is that Krivokapić and Bečić are now under attack. For years, we have witnessed the frenzied campaign of Serbian tabloids against the president of the country Milo Đukanović, especially since the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion in December 2019. Thousands of articles were published every time Montenegro made a political move that official Belgrade did not like. Anyone who makes any deviation from the official policy of Belgrade will face the same fate," she states.
Rajković Nenadić reminds that the latest hunt against the Montenegrin authorities was started by DF officials, who, dissatisfied with the adoption of the Resolution, placed their narrative in the Serbian media, who then continued it with officials in Belgrade. She adds, some established media in Serbia also participated in this.
"This is, of course, the most down-to-earth propaganda coming from the top - you have heard Vučić's statements. In Montenegro, Serbian tabloids are read, their "works" are spread through social networks, closed Viber groups, but also through right-wing portals which are "hooked" on organized Facebook groups, thus reaching a large number of citizens. "This campaign took off at the beginning of the campaign and now we are just witnessing the continuation - depending on which topic is 'crushing' the official Serbian politics", emphasizes the journalist.
Program Director of the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT), Milica Kovačević, says that only those who do not follow events can be surprised by the tabloid campaign.
"Since 2018, since CDT launched the 'Raskrinkavanje.me' portal, we can testify that every significant event in Montenegro has been the subject of a similar campaign. This applies to elections, important political and economic decisions, and even sporting events. Everything that is not to the liking of official Serbia and their exponents here, was the subject of such campaigns. In this way, they want to influence the currents in Montenegro, to encourage their supporters here, but also to influence the political scene in Serbia by presenting themselves as 'protectors of the interests of the Serbian people'. And so indefinitely," she told "Vijesti".
Kovačević states that the patterns of these campaigns are almost identical. It is, he explains, a combination of incendiary statements by officials and false or biased media news, which continues to spread on social networks.
"After the elections held on August 30, the targets of the attacks changed. Previously, it was the government of Milo Đukanović, and today it is part of the current government. It is interesting that some actors of both the past and present governments were favorites of these tabloids in the previous period and when it suited them, they did not condemn this phenomenon. In tabloid terms - 'karma caught up with them,'" she points out.
The interlocutor believes that the previous government did nothing to oppose these phenomena in a democratic way, and that the current one is not doing it either. He notes that democratic dams have not been implemented in our system through interference from abroad, which would mean the creation of society's resilience.
Kovačević says that the CDT proposed the establishment of a parliamentary committee that would deal with this problem, but that proposal, despite the public support of the majority of deputies, was not on the agenda of the parliament.
People are too burdened, too electrified, too much concerned with some tabloids, which in essence should not have any importance, said Dritan Abazović.
In Montenegro, more and more media whose owners are close to the Serbian authorities
"Vijesti" interlocutors assess that everyone should be concerned by the fact that there are more and more media in Montenegro whose owners are close to the Serbian authorities, as well as media that changed their editorial policy after August 30 so that they now follow the policy of official Belgrade. In the pre-election campaigns for the local elections, the Democrats also accused the Democratic Front of attacking them through the media they had taken over.
Rajković Nenadić says that the media from Serbia was brought to Montenegro by the DPS, and that we are now only witnessing the return of that media policy like a boomerang.
"Overnight, you had a change in the editorial policy of Prva TV, as well as A1 TV. Many local portals have changed owners. In the top ten TV channels on Montenegrin cable networks, you have stations from Serbia. That's one aspect of the story. The second is the property of the cable operators themselves - who is behind the two key 'cables', i.e. which companies, and why did Montenegro leave its space to them? The third aspect is the regulator, which did not do its job properly neither during the DPS nor now. Their biggest reach was to ban for three months the transmission of certain Serbian TV stations that broadcast the most vulgar inflammatory speech and often hate speech. Therefore, the story is very serious, complex and requires a systemic response. I think it's too late, but better late than never," says Rajković Nenadić.
Milica Kovačević thinks that very soon it can happen that "someone turns off" the media light in Montenegro.
"If the decision-makers continue to ignore these problems, we will be left to lament, complain to the international community and listen to praises about Vučić," she concludes.
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