Disinformation, conspiracy theories, misogyny, expressed bias and direct attacks on organizers and participants - these are just some of the methods used by certain media outlets to defend the authorities in Montenegro and Serbia from protests organized by students, announced Darvin Murić, editor-in-chief of the Raskrinkavanje.me portal.
"The protests in Serbia and here are quite different, students there are blocking universities, the protests are more massive, streets are being blocked in many cities, and they are connected to the protests in Montenegro by two facts - the student movement and the cause, or rather the initial trigger - the suffering of citizens. The actions of the portal from Montenegro in whose posts we found disinformation related to the protests are, however, quite similar, or, one could say, identical, towards both movements," said Murić.
The narratives used by these portals, he added, are well known – "the protests are organized by the former government and crime, the response from citizens is weak, and they even go so far as to claim that everything is organized from the outside by 'powerful villains'."
"It should be recalled that after the first reaction of the students, the deputies of the Democratic Montenegro party 'jumped out' with the first statement because the resignations of their people who lead the security sector are being demanded. They claim that the protest due to the suffering of 13 innocent citizens was organized by Milo Đukanović and criminal clans. They were joined by PES deputy Jelena Nedović, who also claims that the strings are being pulled from behind bars - that is, that the protests are being orchestrated by former police chief Zoran Lazović. She, however, did not explain to the public how a prisoner from UIKS, who is under the control of the Ministry of Justice, which is under the control of the authorities of which she is a part, and of course the aforementioned Democrats, manages to orchestrate anything from a detention center? If by any chance he is coordinating from prison, then it is an oversight by the authorities who should be keeping a closer eye on a man suspected of very serious things," said Murić.
He also points out that since every narrative goes from top to bottom, the rung below the government is the media, which uses all its might to defend them from protests.
"So Borba and the company could hardly wait to see certain names from the inglorious past on the list of those supporting the students, triumphantly claiming that this was quite enough evidence for the theories put forward by the government's deputies. The founders of these and similar portals tried to drag young people with no experience in public speaking into debate shows and confront them with politicians, members of the Security Committee and other people who are not on television, and after the group 'Kamo sjutra' refused and decided, rightly or wrongly, to appear on TV E, claims began to be made that the students 'only appear on DPS television stations', that TV Prva fulfilled practically every wish they had in life, and that they still did not want to come. Of course, the fact that the students appeared on several television stations and on some podcasts that could not possibly be labeled as cooperating with the previous regime was not mentioned."
Murić recalls that the students presented their demands and rejected the possibility of negotiating them with Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.
"A legitimate choice of tactics, unless you are a portal whose purpose is to defend the government. Then you will claim that the students have 'lost their compass' because they are asking Spajić to organize a press conference and say whether he accepts the demands or not. Borba is even trying to connect the protests with the events in the Parliament, claiming that it is 'symptomatic that the so-called student and civic protests in Montenegro coincide with the boycott of the sessions of the Parliament of Montenegro by the opposition'. Everything is clear to Borba - 'the opposition is trying on two fronts (on the streets and within institutions) with protests and boycotts to block the state and try to stop economic and all other reforms, as well as the work of the security sector, judiciary and prosecution'. So - if you ask Borba, the students want to destroy the economy and the security sector, judiciary and prosecution", said Murić.
Space on the portals, he added, is also being given to Facebook statuses in which it is claimed, without any evidence, that Darko Ivanović took over the coordination of the entire action from the students.
"The newly awarded portal Alo Online goes into misogyny and the post of Croatian singer Severina related to the protests in Montenegro and very inventively refers to her famous video. They greeted the support of professors from Serbian universities, especially Dinko Gruhonjic, with a series of insults and a conspiracy theory that Gruhonjic is leading colored revolutions in the region."
They also protect us from students from Serbia
Murić also states that the Alo online portal, admittedly, made more of an effort to defend the government in Serbia than the functions of the heads of the security sector in Montenegro.
"Borba raises things to a regional level here - it defends Montenegro and Serbia together, and no less than - Soros, 'revealing' to the audience that the 'bloody hand' is his symbol for overthrowing the government, ignoring the deaths of a total of 28 citizens in both countries and the symbolism of the bloody hand of the government. In the text entitled - 'Borba publishes a long list - Dragan Đilas, Marinika Tepić, Milo Đukanović, the DPS parliamentary group, but also various 'lazović and katniće who dragged free citizens through the streets'. Other media and journalists who criticize Vučić are attacked, foreign secret services are blamed and secret plans are revealed, Croats are arrested, and everything is spiced up in the end by a priest - who calls Montenegrin students a frog that raised its leg because it saw that a horse was being shoed in Serbia. The priest, however, in his column for IN4S, goes to the other extreme, and sees the protests in Montenegro and Serbia as an attack on Serbs, the church, and Russians".
Murić states that what is clearly visible is that these two-regime portals are trying to undermine the protests with disinformation narratives and portray them as anything but what they really are, for now - a rebellion of citizens and a demand for responsibility for everything that has befallen them.
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