Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 15/08/2022
The unprecedented tragedy of the 12th of August in Cetinje resulted in eleven deaths, including that of the gunman Vuk Borilović, while six people were injured.
First pieces of information started flowing in while this chaotic situation in the Royal Capital was still going on; some of the information, mostly published in regional media outlets, was unverified and inaccurate in terms of the details of the murders committed.
Wrong number of deaths, inaccurate names of victims
“FATHER OF THREE MASSACRED 11 PEOPLE… WIFE WAS THE FIRST VICTIM, THOUGH THEY SEEMED LIKE A HAPPY COUPLE (…)” – is a part of the headline published by Informer.
“Vuk Borilović killed 11 people, and injured six in Medovina neighbourhood in Cetinje. According to the local community members, he first killed his wife and then started randomly shooting at passers-by“, the article further states while including private photos of Borilovic’s family members.
“UNPRECEDENTED MASSACRE COMMITTED BECAUSE OF DEBT!? The killer was in conflict with his neighbours, had a wife and three children, HE KILLED THEM ALL”, is the title of the article published by Kurir, citing information received from “a cousin of the killer”.
Other regional media outlets cited the reporting of Informer and Kurir.
Having completed preliminary investigation, prosecutor in charge Andrijana Nastić said 11 persons had been killed in Cetinje – including the shooter.
Nastić explained they had found nine dead bodies at the scene. In the meantime, as she said for TV station Vijesti, the Clinical Centre of Montenegro informed them of two more deaths.
More detailed information about events in Cetinje was shared by police director Zoran Brdjanin in a video supplied to the media.
“According to the information known so far, today around 3:30 p.m. 34-year old man V.B. from Cetinje shot members of the family staying at his house in Medovina as tenants. He used a firearm – hunting rifle – to murder two children, one eight years old and another eleven years old, while injuring their mother who died later in a medical facility. Then he went out and shot the same firearm, targeting local community members, thus murdering seven more and injuring six persons”, he added.
Therefore, based on official information confirmed by the police and prosecutors, it is clear that Borilovic (based on previous investigation) is not suspected of having killed 11, but 10 persons, while neither his wife nor his children were targets of the attack.
Unverified information about who killed the gunman
After initial release of information about Cetinje tragedy, certain media outlets (here, here…) reported that the police had tried to stop the shooter who refused to surrender, while shooting at police officers, who then “fired several shots at the gunman and killed him”.
At the time of this analysis, the links above still included this same information.
Some portals had changed this information at a later stage, without any indication of previous coverage.
Prosecutor Nastic said the shooter had been killed by his fellow citizen.
However, police director Brdjanin did not give this information.
“I emphasise that the circumstances of the entire event, including the death of V.B. are still being determined, and the public will be informed of all the details through the media”, police director said.
The following day, Police Administration said they were still establishing whether death of Borilovic, who had killed 10 persons the previous day, resulted from grievous wounds or a bullet shot subsequently by a local citizen. Minister of the Interior Filip Adzic also gave a press statement on the same matter.
“Measures and activities undertaken so far indicate that one of the projectiles fired by police officers hit and severely injured V.B. After exchange of fire between police officers and V.B, according to their statements and reports, V.B. at some point stopped shooting”, the police said, according to the media.
Political connotation
Barski portal made an unacceptable mistake in covering the Cetinje events when it published an article titled “Horror in Cetinje: SD official killed eleven and injured several“.
By reporting on it this way, the portal put the entire event in a wrong context, as membership in any political party by itself is not and must not be claimed to be related to the crime committed.
The article was later removed (without any notification of such removal, correction or apology to the readers), and is no longer unavailable on the website or Facebook page.
“Police officers with long barrels“
“According to unconfirmed information, after the Cetinje massacre, the Clinical Centre in Podgorica is under siege. We find out that police officers carrying long barrels are guarding the hospital to which some of the wounded in this bloodbath were brought”, reads a Kurir article.
There were no photos or videos shown to confirm such statements, while the police released no information whatsoever about any heightened security measures outside the Clinical Centre.
The video included in the Kurir article, recorded by Pobjeda reporter Dragan Mijatovic, shows no police officers carrying long barrels. Mijatovic confirmed for us that police officers and investigators were present outside the Clinical Centre when the wounded were brought there, but none of them were carrying any long barrels.
Journalistic interpretation of crime – satanizing the suspected shooter
“Bloodbath“, “bloody drama“, “massacre“, “bloody action“ – are only some of the expressions used by the media to describe the Cetinje tragedy with the final death toll of eleven.
Some media outlets called the suspected shooter a “mass murderer“ and “monster“.
Reporting on investigations and court cases serves to mindfully inform the public about crime, criminal prosecution and court judgement. Persons are assumed to be innocent until court proves the opposite, even if they have admitted guilt. This applies even to cases when such guilt is obvious to the public”, according to the Code of Journalists of Montenegro.
Additionally, media presented various information about the motive of the attack, such as “unprecedented massacre committed because of debt”, “he was delusional about being under a spell”, “argument over property”…
These are all unverified allegations and rumours.
“It is unclear at this point what made V.B. commit such heinous crime, on which occasion he got himself killed”, police director said in his first address.
Not even the subsequent press release of the Police Administration (published one day later) gives details about the shooter’s motive for this multiple murder.
“In the interest the public, we would like to inform you that based on intelligence received there were indications, as stated by the persons close to V.B, that suggested his behaviour changed, but not that he would commit such a crime, and for this reason he had been scheduled to see a specialist doctor. We emphasise there is neither intelligence nor reports to the police about any earlier conflicts, or any kind of prior attacks by V.B. against the family of tenants. In this sense, no causal relationship should be made between the commission of such serious crime and any kind of illegal behaviour in the previous period“, reads the press release of the Police Administration.
Reporting by Kurir, Blic, and PV Informer is assessed as biased.
“Biased reporting” assessment is given to such reporting by media which can be clearly established to favour the facts, opinions and conclusions advantageous to a certain narrative, often failing to respect the rule of contacting the other side when making allegations causing harm to reputation or negatively portraying persons. One of the forms of biased reporting is selective presentation of facts, involving giving prominence to the facts going in favour of a certain thesis, while intentionally leaving out the opposite facts. Such media reporting generally involves emotionally charged language. It may or may not be untrue but, as a rule, it fails to present the whole picture and all sides to the story, but only those facts going in favour of the preferred narrative.
Informer’s article about Borilovic having killed 11 people and his wife is assessed as disinformation.
“Disinformation” assessment is given to such reporting by media which constitutes a “mix“ of facts and incorrect or semi-true content. In such cases, the media are not necessarily aware of incorrect information published together with true information. Additionally, this assessment will also be given to reports having false attribution or headlines failing to reflect the relevant content in terms of information accuracy.
