Russian influence on the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina - a review of disinformation from Ukraine

 

The media space in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), although divided along entity lines, is difficult to observe outside the regional context, due to the similar dialects in at least four countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro), in which media content is also they are very easily transmitted through portals and social networks, so similar content dominates in all countries. This was also the case in the days after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 22, 2022.

 

This was also indicated by the research of the most widespread disinformation claims and narratives about the war in Ukraine during the first 150 days of Russian aggression against this country, which was conducted by the SEE Check network of five regional fact-checking platforms (Raskrinkavanje.ba, Raskrikanevje.rs, Fakenews.rs, Raskrinkavanje.me and Faktograf.hr) from Southeastern Europe.

 

As stated in the research, in the context of the war in Ukraine, pro-Russian narratives dominated, which aim to portray Ukraine as a "Nazi" country, and Russia as a country that comes to the aid of the citizens of Ukraine. To a lesser extent, disinformation that benefits the Ukrainian side is also present in the region.

 

The largest number of pro-Russian misinformation at the very beginning of the war related to the justification of the invasion, as well as the very name of it. After the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, called the invasion a "special military operation in Donbass", many media in BiH, especially in Republika Srpska (RS), such as Radio Television of the Republika Srpska (RS), Alternative Television, Nezavisnih Novina, Glas Srpska and others , they started using the same narrative.

 

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for the first few months, RTRS has been publishing almost daily reports from correspondents from the Donbass region or from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. Through the biased reports of reporter Danijel Simić, imbued with Russian propaganda claims, which often contain misinformation, partiality and open alignment with the side of the Russian army is visible.

 

Already in his first message from Ukraine, Simić repeated the well-known Russian propaganda narratives that seek to justify aggression against Ukraine. In that report, he called the Russian invasion a "special military operation" and claimed that Russia was only protecting its national interests. He also claimed that Ukraine has not been a sovereign country for a long time and that it is "ridiculous" that the European Union (EU) and the countries of the NATO pact call for "some kind" of Ukraine's sovereignty. Biased and often misinformative way of reporting, Simić, who is also known for his radical nationalist views and who previously denied that genocide was committed in

 

At the beginning of March last year, a few days after the beginning of the Russian aggression, Glas Srpska published an author's text by the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Kalabuhov, with the title "The truth about the situation in Ukraine", in which he stated, among other things:

 

"For eight years, there has been a genocide and a bloody war against the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR), which declared independence, as well as a complete blockade of the region. Under these conditions, the Russian Federation was forced to react: recognize the independence of the DNR and LNR, launch a special military operation of demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine with the aim of protecting the civilian population of these republics, as well as the Russian Federation, from the military threat posed by NATO countries that are trying to use Ukrainian territory to create a platform for aggressive anti-Russian actions. The special operation is completely legitimate, carried out in accordance with Article 51, Part 7 of the UN Charter, with the consent of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and in accordance with the official requirements of the leadership of the DPR and LNR," Kalabuhov wrote in the text.

 

Dissemination of disinformation and propaganda narratives

 

In the days after the beginning of the invasion, the narrative about the "denazification" of Ukraine and the Ukrainian government, which was also first promoted by Vladimir Putin, was also significantly spread. Some examples of such claims include allegations that there are Nazis within the Ukrainian government, that the government supports Nazism and Nazi groups, that Nazism is widespread among Ukrainians, and photoshopped photos of the Ukrainian president allegedly promoting Nazi symbols.

 

Additional disinformation and propaganda narratives spoke about the fact that Ukraine is carrying out genocide against the Russian population in the east of the country, that NATO violates non-proliferation agreements and threatens Russia, that the West is aggressive and incites conflicts, that there are American laboratories of biological weapons aimed at destruction in Ukraine of the Russian people, as well as those previously known, such as calling the events of 2014 a coup supported by the West, but also presenting the annexation of Crimea to Russia as a legitimate act resulting from the democratic will of the citizens of Crimea.

 

"Five regional fact-checking portals published a total of 313 analyzes during the first 150 days of the war in Ukraine, from February 24 to July 25, 2022, in which 1,396 articles and social media posts were assessed as manipulative or inaccurate. Only 274 articles and publications were subsequently corrected after evaluation by the fact-checking portal. A total of 1,573 inaccurate and manipulative claims were recorded in the region, most of which are part of Russian propaganda that has found its way into the countries of Southeast Europe as well," the research states.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina alone, the fact-checking platform Raskrinkavanje rated 966 articles and media reports about the war and Ukraine as disinformation, manipulation of facts or conspiracy theories.

 

"A lot of media, anonymous portals and legitimate media are reporting things that are published without verification. Some transmit without verification because they simply work according to the principle of copy-paste, and some transmit because they have an ideology or a political agenda that they are trying to promote through their work. These are mainly these media that appeared to us in the research from 2019, and which include to the greatest extent media from the RS, which are close to the SNSD and Milorad Dodik and those political structures, and as our research has shown, they are in constant communication with media from Serbia that are on the same political line. These are, for example, tabloids such as Kurir, Alo, Informer and the like," explains Tijana Cvjetićanin, editor of the BiH fact-checking platform Raskrinkavanje.

 

He reminds that among those who spread disinformation and manipulated facts, there are quite a few anonymous and semi-anonymous portals that are extremely right-wing or nationalist.

 

"Such as Srbin.info, Webtribune, Srbija Danas, etc. We also have Sputnik, and together with RTRS, it has proven to be one of the central points of this hub that constantly produces and spreads and transmits to each other and increases the visibility of political disinformation" , says Cvjetićanin.

 

The most common source of rated articles in that research was the media from Serbia, and among them the Sputnik Serbia agency led the way with 33 ratings, whose content often reaches the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also spreads through social networks.

 

Just some of the examples of misinformation and manipulation of facts, the source of which was the agency Sputnik Serbia, are the claims that the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Buča was staged, that Russia prevented the third world war, that the Ukrainian army uses bombs with white phosphorus, that there are American "biolaboratories" in Ukraine ”, that Ukraine was developing nuclear weapons, or that Ukrainian forces occupied the UN office in Kramatorsk.

 

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the embassy of the Russian Federation has published numerous announcements from official state institutions of Russia, as well as numerous reactions to the political processes in BiH, through its profile on the social network Facebook.

 

The war in Ukraine and new divisions in BiH media

 

Less than a month after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian Ambassador Igor Kalabuhov stated in the context of BiH's potential membership in the NATO alliance:

 

"If she decides to be a member of anything, it is an internal matter. But another thing is our reaction. Using the example of Ukraine, we have shown what we expect. If there is a threat, we will react. There is no direct threat to BiH. It is a direct threat from the West. It is playing with the people of BiH that Russia is allegedly preparing some plan. We don't have any plans. We will react by analyzing the strategic and geopolitical situation, and I do not even think that in some fantasy, in some reality,

Bosnia and Herzegovina will become a member of NATO. We see that there is no consensus and it will not be so easy for BiH to decide in these circumstances," Kalabuhov told FTV in mid-March 2022.

 

This statement was condemned by numerous representatives of the international community, who mostly characterized such a statement as a direct "threat".

 

It is noticeable that the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported on the same events, depending on which part of the country they came from, and reported differently on the aggression against Ukraine. The media in Republika Srpska mostly put the Russian side in a positive context, while the media from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina put the Russian side in a negative context.

 

"Special military operation" is a qualification used by the media in Republika Srpska, referring mainly to Russian sources. At the same time, the media in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina describe the war in Ukraine as "aggression against Ukraine" and "Russian invasion", according to the analysis of media content carried out by Mediacenter Sarajevo at the very beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 

In that analysis, it is also stated that the media from Republika Srpska most often used euphemisms when it came to determining the character of the war in Ukraine, following the guidelines set by Russian officials. On the other hand, it is noticeable that the media from the Federation of BiH predominantly use terms such as aggression and invasion when determining the character of the conflict in Ukraine, mainly following the determinants that are present in the public opinion of the West. In the analysis of the media coverage of the war in Ukraine in the largest print media in the RS and FBiH, as well as in the information programs of public services, only the determinants that were not quoted by other persons were taken into account, that is, the determinants that were mentioned were taken into account from journalists who were authors of media content.

 

This type of reporting continued in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the following months, when it comes to reporting on Ukraine. Although compared to the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the number of media content is incomparably smaller, the narratives in the media of Bosnia and Herzegovina have remained the same - and the bias and classification on the side of Russia in the reporting of the media from Republika Srpska has not changed.