Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 19/04/2022
Montenegrin handball players made another great success by defeating the Greek national team in “Moraca”, thus securing a place in the World Cup after ten years. In accordance with the fans’ enthusiasm, flags fluttered in the hall.
Montenegrins and media across the region wrote about the historic victory of the “lions”.
However, even in the moments of the greatest celebration and euphoria, some websites tried to cast a shadow on the success of Montenegrin sports, thus making manipulative claims that linked sports and politics.
Namely, writing about the overall mood in “Moraca” during the duel between Montenegro and Greece, some media pointed out the alleged disgrace caused by the Montenegrin fans, calling them “DPS Committees”.
“Disgrace in SC” Moraca “: DPS committees turned Montenegrin flags upside down and supported the Ukrainian Nazis in Mariupol !, states the title of the Montenegrin website Borba.
The same news was shared by the website CGVijesti, which they shared on Facebook.
Serbian websites Alo and Novosti shared Borba’s article.
“In the photo from the game and under the hideous banner of the DPS fans of the national team, the disrespect towards the state flag can be seen, which were turned upside down. Dear readers, we must remind that historically, the wrongly placed flag meant capitulation and surrender since the time of Napoleon. Even in the Middle Ages, fortresses with the flag turned upside down sent a message that they had already surrendered or that there was a disease there”, states the text of the website Borba.
The mentioned media focused on the Montenegrin flags turned upside down, without trying to investigate the reason for that, but quite the opposite, by drawing a parallel with capitulation and surrender.
However, the Montenegrin flags, which were briefly turned upside down in the “Moraca” hall, do not mean capitulation or surrender, much less disrespect for state symbols, as stated by Borba.
Namely, on the west stand in the hall, the fans raised a flag of large dimensions, consisting of many smaller ones.
As it usually happens, the flag was spread at the moment when the Montenegrin anthem began. This is evidenced by a video shared on Facebook, which shows that at the time of raising the big flag over the podium, the first row is turned upside down, so the flag going across the podium was spread correctly.
Photographs and recordings published on the website of the Handball Federation of Montenegro testify to this choreography.
In addition to unfounded allegations of insulting national symbols by turning flags upside down, Borba tried to discredit Montenegrin fans by allegations of support for the “Ukrainian Nazis”.
“At one of the tribunes, they developed a banner in which they connected Cetinje and Mariupol in a scandalous way, calling them “cities of heroes”. It has been clear for a long time that strong drafts are blowing in the heads of the DPS committee, but especially since the beginning of the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. The link between the national liberation struggle against fascism and Nazism from 1941-1945 and the Ukrainian neo-Nazis barricaded in Mariupol, the infamous Nazi detachment “Azov”, recognized for monstrous crimes against civilians, can only apostates from Montenegro and these people.
However, allegations of support for the “Ukrainian Nazis in Mariupol” are a matter of personal perception of this website. This arbitrary claim is certainly unfounded because the support given by Montenegrin fans does not refer to any Nazi organizations, but to the city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, which has been hit hardest by Russian attacks since the invasion, as evidenced by a large number of civilian casualties.
All the above information clearly leads us to the conclusion that the text of Borba, shared by websites Alo, Novosti and CGVijesti, abounds in claims that manipulatively try to divert attention from real facts, all to discredit Montenegrin fans who were marked as “DPS” Committee”.
In accordance with the above, we assess the mentioned texts as the manipulation of the facts.
The “manipulation of the facts” rating is given to a media report that uses known and accurate facts, but interprets them in a misleading way. These reports generally use accurate information to draw inaccurate conclusions or claims, thus diverting media content consumers in the wrong direction in relation to the actual meaning of the facts presented.
Also, this announcement received a rating of disinformation.
The rating “disinformation” is given to a media report that contains a “mixture” of facts and inaccurate or semi-true content. In such cases, the media does not need to be necessarily aware of the inaccurate information published along with the truth. Also, this assessment will treat reports that have false attributions or titles that do not reflect the text in terms of accuracy of information.
