In recent weeks, there have been several cases of monkeypox infection in Europe, the United States, Australia and Canada. After cases of infection in gay, bisexual and other men who had sex with men were discovered, the media began to report on monkeypox as a disease “transmitted by gay sex.”

Taloid Kurir in text “MONKEY POX ARE TRANSMITTED BY GAY SEX! They are not officially in Serbia yet, BUT IF YOUR HUSBAND HAS THEM, YOU CAN END THE MARRIAGE! (PHOTO)” in addition to homophobia, also presented untruths and misinformation. In the text, Kurir refers to the information published by the World Health Organization (WHO), and reports “how the largest number of cases was recorded among men who had sexual relations with men!”. However, they omit the information that the advisor for HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections at the WHO Andy Sill emphasized that although “we see some cases among men who have sex with men, this is not a gay disease” and added that “everyone can get monkeypox in close contact with an infected person.”

Some other media also had titles and narratives similar to those in Kurir. In a conversation with virologist and microbiologist Milanko Shekler, they are also used by Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV). Instead of clearly and timely informing the public about monkeypox, the public service, with its text “DO NOT PANIC: Most homosexuals suffer from monkeypox”, contributes to stigmatization, spreading fear and mistrust towards gay and bisexual men. RTV subsequently changed the title, which speaks of an observed mistake, but the text still contributes to the stigmatization of the LGBTQ + community instead of objectively informing about the disease in accordance with the public interest.

The United Nations has also drawn attention to the problem: “Stigma and guilt undermine trust and the ability to respond effectively to epidemics like this,” said Matthew Cavanaugh, deputy chief executive of UNAIDS. This emphasizes the damage that such narratives do to public health and society as a whole.

Stigmatization and targeting of certain groups not only harm a certain community, but also disrupt public health. The media should approach this topic as a health problem, providing relevant information of public interest, without spreading homophobia. In contrast, such media coverage is very reminiscent of HIV reporting during the 1980s and poses a real danger of increasing stigma against the LGBTQ + community.

The media should report in accordance with the Code of Ethics for Journalists of Serbia, but also be aware of their responsibilities when reporting on sensitive topics. The Code of Ethics explicitly states that “a journalist must be aware of the dangers of discrimination that may be spread by the media and will do everything possible to avoid discrimination based on, inter alia, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin ”.

In addition, we remind the media of their role and responsibility towards society, in this case it is important to protect public health and safety of citizens, and stigmatization of one social group and creating misconceptions about ways of transmitting disease contribute to the opposite effect.

Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans

Civil Right Defenders

Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia

Belgrade Pride

National Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health – POTENT

Organization Da se zna!

Duga Association

Labris – a lesbian human rights organization

Rainbow Ignite

Organization L* – Communio

ZOOMER.rs

E8 Center

Reflektor teatar

Talas

ERA – Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey

Group „IZAĐI“

XY Spectrum

Glic

Geten

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic twisted the facts during Monday’s press point, accusing N1 of not caring about the fate of Serb children.

An N1 reporter asked him about demands by Croatian politicians to put him on trial for alleged war mongering in the mid-1990s and Vucic replied saying that he is proud of his statements at the time and added that he never killed children unlike the people accusing him. “I am sorry that you at N1 do not see that and I am sorry that Serb children are not very important to you,” he said adding that they are more important than himself and his political or any other fate.

N1 asked if he was scared by the possibility of an indictment in Croatia over his speech in the Croatian town of Glina in 1995. He replied: “I am pleased that you are glad, I am even more glad than you… I am proud of everything, I can’t say everything, but of what they are saying, nothing is disputed. And just a few days later they killed the Serbs who lived there, the Serbs did not kill them. Let me remind you because you seem to have forgotten what happened in 1995,” he said.

N1 TV always shows respect for all the victims of war both in the former Yugoslavia and anywhere else in the world. The Serbian President abused his position and insulted N1 TV journalists, indirectly endangering all N1 staff.

There is no point in debating the accusations that the president made against N1.

Croatian politicians demanded an indictment against Vucic for what they alleged was war mongering in Glina in 1995 following an indictment by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution against 4 Croatian air force pilots who are alleged to have bombed a Serb refugee convoy.

Source: N1

Sexism, misogyny and hate speech towards women and the LGBTQ+ community, as well as hate speech based on ethnicity, are most prevalent in Western Balkan media and something that is common to the whole region, according to the results of media monitoring in the Western Balkans which followed problematic trends in reporting on social diversity.

These results were presented at the regional conference ‘Where have diverse voices gone’ in Belgrade. Monitoring of hate speech and representation of diversity is conducted within the Reporting Diversity Network 2.0.

The findings were presented by media experts from the region: Kristina Lani (Albanian Media Institute), Leila Bičakčić (Center for Investigative Journalism), Violeta Oroshi Berishaj (Kosovo 2.0), Željana Kandić (Center for Investigative Journalism Montenegro), Bojan Georgievski (Institute for Communication Studies Skopje) and Ivana Jovanović (Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans).

Sexism, misogyny and hate speech towards women and the LGBTQ+ community, as well as hate speech based on ethnicity, is the most prevalent discourse  in Western Balkan media according to the results of the media monitoring in the region which assesses  problematic trends in reporting on social diversity.

These results were presented at the regional conference ‘Where have diverse voices gone’ in Belgrade, May 5, 2022.  The monitoring of hate speech and representation of diversity is conducted within the Reporting Diversity Network 2.0.

The conference was opened by Milica Pešić, Executive Director of Media Diversity Institute, Tatjana Prijić, deputy Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in Serbia, and Victor Dragutan, Programme Manager at the European Commission’s Media and Civil Society unit,   who all highlighted the importance of fair and balanced representation of social diversity in the media. While addressing the participants, Prijić highlighted the efforts that the office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality does in order to react to hate speech and ensure the equal treatment of all social groups in Serbian society.

“European Union takes increasingly bold steps to support democracy and freedom of expression, that depends of course on media freedom, pluralism, independence and viability, as well as on the ability of journalists to do their job without fear. Diversity and making all voices heard, which is the topic of the conference today, is of utmost importance too”, said Dragutan after commenting on increased polarisation in media globally, the spread of the “Fox News model” of opinion media, disinformation circuits amplified by social media.

The RDN2.0 media monitoring findings were presented at the conference by media experts from the region: Kristina Lani (Albanian Media Institute), Leila Bičakčić (Center for Investigative Journalism), Violeta Oroshi Berishaj (Kosovo 2.0), Željana Kandić (Center for Investigative Journalism Montenegro), Bojan Georgievski (Institute for Communication Studies Skopje) and Ivana Jovanović (Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans).

“Hate speech along gender lines mainly presents itself in the form of victim blaming, perpetuation of the tradition that women should possess virtue, as well as objectification of women for entertainment” said Kristina Lani from the Albanian Media Institute.

Željana Kandić from the Center for Investigative Journalism Montenegro pointed out that in Montenegro, the most frequent targets of hate speech are women who are engaged in public affairs.

“Most often, women who are engaged in public affairs are targeted, i.e., politicians, journalists, representatives of the NGO sector. In the last few years various examples of misogyny have been noticed – from insulting comments, through to caricatures in which women are shown naked and in an inferior position, all the way to death threats” said Kandić.

Ivana Jovanović from Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans said that the situation is not any better in Serbia, and that the results show that women are the most exposed to hate speech and gave the example of the media with a national frequency that in 2021 participated in the secondary victimisation of women who reported rape allegations and sexual harassment allegations.

“Certain tabloids, as well as televisions with national frequencies, spread narratives that shift the blame to the victim who reported (sexual) violence, as well as conspiracy theories that rape and sexual harassment allegations ‘represent an attack on Serbia’ and thus they participate in the secondary victimisation of victims” said Jovanović.

The panellists said that the targets are those who challenge traditional values, such as women who are fighting for their emancipation or members of the LGBTQ+ community who do not fit the traditional norms.

Bojan Georgievski from the Institute for Communication Studies Skopje also pointed out the role of social networks when he spoke about the ‘Public Room’ case – the Facebook group within which men shared private pictures of women without their consent. Georgievski also noted that this case is in a way an example of good practice, because the administrators of the group were punished with imprisonment, but he also pointed out how this case pointed out the weaknesses of the system, as it took a year to process the case.

Ethnicity is also a sensitive category of social diversity and the results in all six countries can confirm this. The reporting on neighbouring countries is problematic, and there exists particularly sensitive topics such as the Serbia-Kosovo relations or the wars of the 1990s.

“When journalist Pero Jovović went to Pristina for the festival ‘Mirëdita, dobar dan!’ and posted it on his private Facebook profile, pro-government tabloids used it as to target him and his media outlet, which led to Jovović receiving death threats on social networks. A similar thing happened to activists as well as journalists who reported on the mural of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. From these examples we can see that the media are very often generators of hate speech” said Jovanović.

Violeta Oroshi Berishaj, who followed the media coverage in Kosovo, also pointed out the relations between Pristina and Belgrade as the initiators of negative trends in the media, which then spill over into social networks. She also spoke about how the media often do not use open hate speech, but the way they report influence public opinion, which is then manifested in an avalanche of hate speech on social networks.

Leila Bičakčić from the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) of Bosnia and Herzegovina pointed out that the media in the region are polarised and follow in the footsteps of politicians. The findings from the research confirm that politicians in the Western Balkans are often the initiators of rhetoric that encourages social divisions and hate speech.

What is also common to all Western Balkan societies is the absence of Roma from the media. Interestingly, the monitoring findings do not show many examples of hate speech against Roma. However, this is an indicator of an equally negative trend – Roma are reported only on the occasion to mark World Roma Day or in reports on crime and similar negative contexts. Conference participant, Kristina Lani, called this “hate silence”.

At the conference ‘Where have diverse voices gone’ media representation of diversity was further explored through several panels that dealt with the importance of creating counter-narratives, the thin line between freedom of speech and hate speech, the role of social networks in spreading hate speech, but also in fighting against it. Also, a panel with representatives of regulatory and self-regulatory bodies from the Western Balkans aimed to raise discussion about existing practices to combat hate speech and harmful practices in media representation of social diversity, as well as the cooperation of civil society with institutions.