Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 17/12/2021
The glorification of war criminals is a trend that has revived in the Balkans in recent days and weeks. Individuals do not shy away from writing graffiti dedicated to war “heroes” and making announcements that glorify convicted war criminals. There is also the media to convey all this more or less credibly.
Thus, the portal IN4S, known for its nationalist publications, used the old news a few days ago to promote the “heroism” of Ratko Mladic.
“A photo of Italian Lazio fans circulating on social networks, who unfurled a banner that reads: Generale Mladic l ultimo eroe D Europa, i.e., General Mladic the last hero of Europe”, states IN4S in its text published on December 14.
The same text was published by Alo.
Moreover, the same post shared by IN4S and Alo was shared on Facebook in July this year.
What is disputable in this post?
The photo which shows that the fans of Roman Lazio allegedly pointed out a banner dedicated to Mladic has been circulating on the Internet since 2014, and not since December 2021.
This is evidenced by the publication of the website koreni.rs, which published this news in April 2014.
The fan group that IN4S wrote about was shut down in 2020, which is another proof that they could not develop a banner dedicated to Mladic this month, although, in the previous days, Serbian extremists have been trying to revive their general.
“One of the most famous fan groups in Italy, but also in Europe, Lazio’s Irriducibili decided to shut down. The most ardent ultras of the Sky Blues, known as big right-wingers, used to glorify war criminals Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan and Ratko Mladic in the past”, faktor.ba wrote at the beginning of last year.
Also, there is no evidence that the photo is credible at all.
Bearing in mind that IN4S used the old news to re-actualize the glorification of Mladic, this article received the rating for Recycling.
“Recycling” is given to media content that re-uses already published information without a clear indication of the time period to which the content relates. The text is recycled at a certain point in order to manipulate the conclusions of the consumer of media content.
Edit: 12/22/2021
Website Alo published a correction in its original text, clearly using the ethical standard of professional conduct of journalists and denying the original allegations, so we give them a rating for Refuted. The rating “Refuted” is given in cases when the media determines that the content falls under one of the negative reviews described above and denies it in a clear and visible manner, in accordance with the principles of refutation.