The Western Balkans and fake news: a fight for the truth or against windmills?

Serbia plans to form several expert teams by the end of this year that will respond to false information in foreign media. The interlocutors of Kosovo Online emphasize that the biggest battles are fought precisely for the truth.

Written by: Arsenije Vuckovic

Fighting windmills or searching for scattered feathers from a pillow. This is how statements or denials that follow after a half-truth or fake news are generally described. With the start of the war in Ukraine, the Western Balkans once again became a good "media testing ground," and in these two years, all sorts of things have been said.

The "war drums" were mostly sounded, and Serbia was always the main target as a rule.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated in April of this year that more than 10,000 negative articles were published against Serbia.

"More than ten thousand articles of similar content have been written against Serbia in the last 25 months. No one has ever apologized for the lies that were spread," Vucic stated.

He responded to reports in Croatian media that the Serbian Army is deploying bases around Kosovo in the shape of a horseshoe, alluding to the reason for the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999.

At that time, Western media claimed that the state leadership had approved a military operation called "Horseshoe," which aimed to expel the Albanian population from Kosovo.

This claim did not hold up in any of the verdicts of the Hague Tribunal. And there were several.

In the middle of this year, a journalist from the British Telegraph climbed a hill near Leposavic and, wearing a military bulletproof vest, asked whether she was standing on the "point that could become another Ukraine."

No less sensationalist was the recent report on RTK that Serbia is financing at least two media outlets in Pristina.

The story was published by "Slobodna Bosna," and an editor at RTK later stated that he was told "from above" that he had to run the story. And he did.

The owners and editors of the mentioned media then claimed that this news was most likely commissioned directly from Pristina, specifically from the Prime Minister's office.

To adequately counter such information, the Director of the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of Serbia, Arno Guyon, announced that by the end of the year, special teams for foreign media would be formed, tasked with monitoring reports about Serbia and responding promptly in case of fake news publication.

Truth against lies

In an interview with Kosovo Online, Arno Guyon explains that there is only one way for Serbia to fight against lies.

"We can fight against these fake news stories with the truth by sending a rebuttal every time a false news story is published. When something negative is said about Serbia, we should respond with something positive through op-eds, articles, and appearances in their media. We also want to organize visits of foreign journalists to Serbia because we believe the best way for people to get to know Serbia is to experience it, to meet Serbs, to get acquainted with our authorities, and to see that what has been said and reported about Serbia and Serbs over the years does not correspond to reality, does not correspond to the truth," emphasized Guyon.

He assessed that the most difficult period for Serbia in the media sense was the period of the wars in the 1990s, which continued with the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999.

"The worst fake news was spoken and transmitted during the 1990s, especially during the bombing of Serbia, the aggression in 1999. I will quote a piece of fake news that seems unbelievable to us in the sense that we think no one could believe it, but in the West, everyone believed it because they had no idea what was happening here, nor about geography. They said that when they bombed the bridge in Novi Sad, they did it to prevent the Serbian army from operating in Kosovo and Metohija. The problem was that no one in the West knew where Novi Sad was, that it is in northern Serbia, and where Kosovo and Metohija are, in southern Serbia. And so, they justified various crimes that had significant consequences for the people and the state. At that time, there was no reaction to it," said Guyon.

He added that today, fake news is not always connected with the announcement of armed conflicts, but this rhetoric is still present.

"We saw it in The Telegraph. An English journalist claimed that Serbia is preparing an incursion, an invasion of Kosovo and Metohija, which is a huge lie. We want to react to all of that because it greatly damages Serbia's image, as well as our foreign policy," Guyon emphasized.

He reminded that many journalists in the West built their careers based on fake news about the Balkans and Serbia, citing CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour as an example.

"People like that, who were ordinary journalists back then, are much more powerful today. Some of them are editors, directors of publications... When I was the president of a humanitarian organization and tried to promote the reality of how people live in Kosovo and Metohija, I encountered self-censorship, where a journalist is interested and wants to write, but gets a red card from the editor or the publication's director because it doesn't align with what they have been reporting for years. This directly calls their credibility into question," says Guyon, adding that with effort and hard work, it is still possible to break through "media barriers."

"And that is what we are going to do. It won't be easy, but that is the fight we are fighting. That's why the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy was established. To fight for Serbia, for the Serbian people, to fight for the truth, and to change the image of Serbia and Serbs, and of history, in all global media," Guyon said.

The Director of the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of Serbia says that Kosovo is very frequently present in global media, which is why reports on this topic will be monitored in five world languages.

"Kosovo and Metohija are indeed frequent topics in Western and global media, and we must approach this rationally and explain how things really are. On a political level, by always highlighting what has been agreed upon, what has been signed, what has not been signed, what has been respected by Serbia, and what has not been respected by Pristina. And people need to know this at every level because it benefits us, as Serbia has always been constructive, Serbia has always stood by its word, which is not the case with Pristina. We need to work on this within the framework of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue," Guyon said.

He emphasizes that attention will be focused, on one hand, on the authorities and diplomacy of certain countries, but that the intention is to address the people of those countries.

"By explaining how Serbs live today in Kosovo and Metohija. What their everyday life problems are, and through human stories, through a human lens, and through emotions, we want to reach the ordinary citizen in France, America, Germany. That is what interests them. If we look at how those who promoted the other side have worked over the past 30 years, they didn’t often speak about high politics, although they did, but very often about human fate. And we want to touch upon that human fate, to promote it, to show it, to explain how Serbs live today in Kosovo Polje, Prizren, or in Kosovo Pomoravlje," Guyon stated.

The Battle for Justice

French historian and professor of geopolitics at the University of Versailles, Alexis Troude, stated that it is important for Serbia to have launched a campaign against fake news because the main battles are fought for the truth.

"I am very pleased that, after so much time, someone like Arno Guyon has decided to initiate such a campaign. The main battles are fought for the truth," Troude told Kosovo Online.

He reminded that the most media lies were spread during the wars of the 1990s, and that the main battle was fought in France.

"The main battle was especially here in France, the battle for justice in the media. I remember, for example, when Le Monde, the leading newspaper in France, published in 1999 that the Serbian people were collectively guilty for the wars. It was proven in court that this was not true," said Troude.

He noted that not much has changed today compared to the period 20 or 30 years ago.

"I remember 20-30 years ago, the main thing was not to send humanitarian aid to the Serbs; the main goal was to provide accurate news," Troude stated.

He assessed that the media landscape is somewhat better today.

"In France, and I see the same in Spain and Germany, the image of Serbs is changing," said Troude.

The March Pogrom

The President of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) in Kosovo, Ivana Vanovac, stated that in the Western Balkans, there is no better recent example of what a fake news story can cause than March 17, 2004, which led to the March Pogrom of Serbs in Kosovo.

"In this region, I believe we do not have a better example than March 17. It is the best evidence of how a fake news story can, in a historical context, change the demographic, social, political, and systemic aspects of an area and the way people in that area live," Vanovac assessed for Kosovo Online.

Commenting on Serbia's announcement that it will form special teams by the end of the year to respond to the spread of fake news, Venovac says that disinformation is ubiquitous and difficult to recognize.

"Fake news is pervasive in the media. It is often very difficult to identify because it is sometimes based up to 50 percent on truth. The most effective fake news, the ones that do the best job, are usually grounded in some element of truth, making it hard for the public to easily recognize the inaccurate part of what they read or hear," Venovac explained.
She adds that in the fight against fake news, the issue is not whether it will lead to censorship, but whether it causes a loss of timeliness.

"Whoever has the power to censor the media is usually the one spreading fake news, so that can't happen. However, what can happen is that journalists, out of fear of spreading fake news, might take too long to verify it, thereby stripping it of its relevance. Although it is always better to check until we are completely sure the news is accurate rather than publish anything inaccurate, as that always has consequences," concluded Venovac.

Context and Narrative

Commenting on Serbia's announcement that special teams will be formed worldwide by the end of the year to respond to fake news, Srdjan Garcevic, the founder of The Nutshell Times, believes that the most important thing is to have a proactive approach that involves not only spreading one's own narratives but also creating appropriate campaigns.

"The best way to prevent fake news is to provide context, to present one's own side of certain events because, as the saying goes, a lie travels around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. Therefore, what is quite important is this proactive approach through spreading one’s own narratives, but also through constantly reminding the public of the specific actors who have spread fake news, whether it is individual journalists or media outlets that actively create certain campaigns," Garcevic said to Kosovo Online.

According to him, a proactive approach is important because fake news will always exist.

"There will always be fake news, and fake news can sometimes be unintentional, so it is very important to present your own perspectives and narratives, rather than just being reactive and expecting that to be enough. Of course, it is not about silencing certain journalists or media, but rather constantly reminding the public of their role and being very clear in creating a forum where the truth can actually prevail," Garcevic emphasized.

He explained that most of the fake news directed against Serbia comes from decontextualization or placing things in a different context.

"Let’s recall the story of how events during the wars of the 1990s or throughout our history were contextualized, which is just a form of twisting the truth," Garcevic pointed out.

He himself was attacked in 2019 because, thanks to social media, he managed to refute the claim of an American journalist who had misquoted a statement by then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

"When I clearly translated what was actually said, it became clear that the fight against fake news is not just about showing what the truth is, but that it actually requires a very robust defense of the entire situation. At that time, I was attacked and called a chauvinist simply because I directly translated what had happened", Garcevic recalled.