Last night’s tweet by Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist, woke up the ghosts in the Serbian tabloid press for the umpteenth time. Namely, in his tweet, Filipovic criticized Novak Djokovic and the Davis Cup, which allowed Danica Crnogorcevic’s nationalistic song Rejoice, You Serbs to be performed during the presentation of the Serbian tennis players. As is well known, the lyrics of this song, in a clearly irredentist tone, call for the “Serbian flag to be flown from Prizren to Rumija”, that is, on the territories of internationally recognized independent and sovereign states.
For the time being, the condemnations of Djokovic are rare and quiet from Montenegro, while the Albanian and regional public were harsh in their condemnations. Croatian and Bosnian media and public figures have massively condemned the behavior of the Serbian tennis player.
In September, when Filipovic criticized Djokovic for honoring the perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Banjska, a similar targeting campaign took place that went beyond the borders of the Balkans and then became global news that was even broadcast by English-language Indian sports portals.
Filipovic told CdM that that was a well-thought-out model of the functioning of the “Serbian propaganda machine”, using “explosive headlines and wording with the intention of manipulating the cognitive processes of a large number of people”.
Filipovic also added that every previous campaign by Serbian tabloids had been followed by “hundreds of messages of hate and threats on social networks” addressed to him and his family members. He stressed that it did not discourage him, but on the contrary, he “has a stronger desire to further and more deeply investigate the ways in which propaganda in authoritarian regimes manipulate the feelings of the masses”.
