As part of the “prebunking” series “Rasvjetljavanje”, Raskrinkavanje presents an analysis of the sources that spread various disinformation and manipulative narratives about the Srebrenica genocide.
Photo: Raskrinkavanje.ba
This analysis was originally published on July 7, 2023.
Between May 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022, as many as 693 examples of Srebrenica genocide denial were recorded in the media space of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. Disinformation and manipulative narratives about the genocide in Srebrenica appear most often ahead of the July 11 commemoration of the anniversary of genocide.
As part of the “prebunking” series “Rasvjetljavanje”, we pointed out disinformation about Srebrenica that is most often spread in the public space. In the same series, we also wrote about the known and court established facts regarding the events in Srebrenica in July 1995.
As pointed out in earlier texts in this series, various disinformation and manipulative narratives related to the genocide in Srebrenica can be clearly linked to certain sources. Thus, for example, disinformation used to “prove” the incorrect narrative that genocide allegedly did not take place in Srebrenica in a large number of cases comes from sources in Republika Srpska and neighbouring Serbia. As research shows (1, 2, 3), most of the Srebrenica genocide deniers hold a public office, and what is particularly worrying is that public broadcasters directly participate in the denial of genocide.
Genocide denial as an official political position
Politicians and holders of important public functions in Republika Srpska continuously and frequently deny the genocide. Our partner web portal Istinomjer, which analyzes the statements of public office holders, has on several occasions rated disinformation related to the genocide in Srebrenica, originating from politicians from the RS (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
This narrative is promoted by the highest officials of Republika Srpska, such as the current president of this entity and former member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik (1, 2, 3). Supporting this narrative, disinformation about the genocide in Srebrenica is also spread by numerous other prominent actors from Serbia. As stated in the document “Report on the denial of genocide in Srebrenica 2022” of the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, those who most frequently denied the genocide in the past year include the President of the RS Milorad Dodik, the director of the Security and Information Agency of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin and the member of parliament in the National Assembly of Serbia Miodrag Lint. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also ranks high on the list.
“Milorad Dodik also appears in the previous report as a figure who most often denied the genocide in Srebrenica (link, page 19), and similar are also the media sources in which such narratives are regularly, that is, continuously encountered”, says Tijana Cvjeticanin, editor of Raskrinkavanje, who worked on the 2021 report on genocide denial.
The genocide in Srebrenica, according to the aforementioned report, was also denied by certain public figures, institutions, officials of the executive and legislative authorities, the judiciary, the army, as well as religious institutions.
Along with politicians from Republika Srpska and Serbia, the genocide in Srebrenica is also denied by Russian officials who are politically close to them. The spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, also denied the genocide, calling it a “production”.
What is the role of the media in spreading this narrative?
This kind of narrative, based on disinformation, is widely spread by the media from Republika Srpska and Serbia. Among the media from the RS in which genocide is often denied, openly or implicitly, are the public broadcaster Radio-television of Republika Srpska and the news agency Srna.
As explained in the 2022 report of the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, the role of the media was considered from the perspective of their activity as deniers of genocide and as a platform for spreading such a narrative.
“The public radio and television broadcaster of Republika Srpska (RTRS) served as a platform in 50 cases of denial and appears as a negator in 10 cases. The public news agency “SRNA” served as a platform in 42 cases, and in 5 cases it was the denier”, the aforementioned report states.
This also points to the fact that the denial of genocide is part of the official policy of authorities in the Republika Srpska entity.
Some media from neighbouring Serbia also openly deny the genocide, using numerous disinformation and conspiracy theories that it was “staged”, “fake” or that NATO or some Western countries are actually responsible for it. In most cases, these are tabloids that are close to the ruling regime in Serbia. Since, as stated earlier, one of the prominent genocide deniers is Aleksandar Vucic, the way these media report on Srebrenica is not surprising. Media from Serbia, in fact, make up the majority of the list of most frequent genocide deniers, published in the Report by the Srebrenica Memorial Center – Potocari.
Similar findings regarding the sources that deny the genocide in Srebrenica, despite the facts established by courts, were highlighted in the 2021 “Report on denial of the genocide in Srebrenica” of the Memorial Center.
It is also worth pointing out that Sputnik, a news agency owned by the Russian Federation, holds a high position in both reports as a media that serves as a platform or denies that genocide was committed. This, together with the mentioned examples of disinformation coming from official Russian sources, indicates that this country supports the political narratives of Republika Srpska and Serbia in that part.
Where does other disinformation about genocide come from?
As we have already pointed out in previous analyses (1, 2, 3), other examples of spreading disinformation about the genocide in Srebrenica mostly appeared sporadically, motivated by the efforts of the media to collect as many clicks as possible on their web pages. Certain media and actors, often those from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on several occasions, published incorrect claims that some people had confessed that genocide was committed in Srebrenica.
Thus, disinformation was published on several occasions that the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, “recognized the genocide” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This claim was also conveyed by politicians from BiH, such as the current president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nermin Niksic, but also by some of the best known media, such as Al Jazeera, Klix, Oslobodjenje and Dnevni avaz. In February 2022, more than 40 media outlets, almost exclusively from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, published this claim.
The genocide “recognition” was also attributed to the famous tennis player from Serbia, Novak Djokovic. In this case, disinformation was published on several news websites, predominantly anonymous. Nevertheless, although the number of times it was published was low, it attracted a lot of public attention.
Similarly, dozens of media in the region published “news” that football players Danijel Subasic and Luka Modric dedicated some matches “to the mothers and Bosniaks of Srebrenica” (1, 2). Although this did not happen, some media persisted in sharing this disinformation, so it ended up on the pages of a number of media from BiH and the region.
Disinformation about the genocide in Srebrenica, therefore, comes from different sources. While on the one hand, the public is misinformed with negative narratives that the genocide in Srebrenica was not even committed, on the other hand, the “confession” of this crime is attributed to individuals who did not do it publicly. The former, however, is much more frequent.
(Marija Ćosić, Raskrinkavanje.ba)
