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🇳🇱 Netherlands /Conflict & Security

Serbian media take sharply different approaches to Ratko Mladić’s contested legacy

From NRC Handelsblad · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Major commercial broadcasters in Serbia and Republika Srpska portray Ratko Mladić as a defender and hero, while an independent broadcaster highlights his role in the Srebrenica genocide.
  • Mladić died in prison at 84 after receiving a life sentence in 2017 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
  • Media analysts and journalists warn that the divided coverage could glorify war crimes and reopen trauma among survivors.

In Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, Ratko Mladić’s death has produced sharply different media narratives. Major commercial broadcasters argue that the Bosnian Serb general should receive a state funeral, while national television channels try to avoid showing their political leanings. Only the small independent news channel openly raises the unresolved questions surrounding his record.

Mladić, who was born in Republika Srpska, died last Thursday at the age of 84 in prison in Scheveningen. Since then, several thousand people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have reported the glorification of war crimes in media coverage and social media posts, according to the online platform Registar 145a. The platform allows anonymous reports of genocide denial and related content, which can be turned into criminal complaints under Article 145a.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted Mladić in 2017 and sentenced him to life in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The tribunal held him responsible for the massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica. His crimes were committed mainly during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995.

Watching news on Serbian television can make people feel as if they do not live in the same country.

· Tanja MaksicThe BIRN media analyst described the divide between Serbian broadcasters’ portrayals of Mladić.

Tanja Maksic, a media analyst at the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, said Serbian television coverage could make people feel they lived in different countries. She singled out Pink TV in Serbia and ATV, or Alternativna Televizija, in Republika Srpska. Both broadcasters, she said, act as mouthpieces for governments whose politicians were often already in power during the 1990s. Their coverage presents Mladić as an empathetic man and a hero who defended Bosnian Serbs.

“Watching news on Serbian television can make people feel as if they do not live in the same country,” Maksic said. Selma Fukelj of Mediacentar Sarajevo warned that the divided coverage could contribute to the reawakening of trauma among people who survived the war. Maksic said Pink TV edits archival footage to provoke emotion and indignation over Mladić’s treatment in The Hague, while also encouraging viewers to see him simply as a human being.

The divided reporting can contribute to the reawakening of trauma among people who survived the war.

· Selma FukeljThe Mediacentar Sarajevo journalist warned about the effect of conflicting coverage on survivors.
About this summary

Originally published by NRC Handelsblad in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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