Media advisor to the president in a mission to destroy the reputation of an entire profession that has already been dismantled.

Written by: Tamara Skrozza

If someone else were in the place of Suzana Vasiljević, that person would certainly remain silent about the lies she once spread to enjoy a little time at Sveti Stefan. They would be ashamed. 

She, in fact, while guesting on a television program, admitted that in 2000, when she worked for the BBC, she and her team fabricated a war in Montenegro to spend three months at Sveti Stefan.

This is not a journalistic mistake, a misunderstanding, or a slip-up that happens to anyone. No, this is a conscious violation of the fundamental standards of the profession for personal gain, at the expense of entire nations. In short, this is about evil.

Deputy Editor of Serbia

If someone else were in Suzana Vasiljević's position, that person would have covered their ears and changed professions after their vacation at Sveti Stefan. Their conscience would not allow them to ever approach the media again, to be anyone's media advisor, let alone the advisor to the president of a country – and a powerful advisor, practically the deputy editor of Serbia.

As it stands, since Suzana Vasiljević is precisely in that position, a disgrace and a shame is presented as a common practice among journalists – as something that journalists do regularly. The fact is that very few journalists have even heard of such a scandal, and hardly anyone, even among the worst, would do something like that; for journalists, regardless of who they are, this is something unacceptable, impermissible, and unimaginable.

And here we come to the biggest problem. It is not just that a woman who openly lied is now in a position she should never occupy, but that this woman evidently does not see that lie as something wrong. She did not blush; she was not ashamed. She recounted the story as something completely normal, like an experience from a long-ago excursion.

It would still be naive to view all this merely as someone's memory. Considering the dramaturgy from Andrić's Wreath, as well as the modus operandi of the main character in this story, the intent and message are undeniable. This time, not too complex.

Don't trust journalists, insult them, defame them, strike them

It is nothing new that some journalists sometimes lie. It is not new that some journalists always lie. However, the message that Suzana Vasiljević has sent should be that all journalists always lie – because if the great BBC lied, it is hard for anyone to refrain from doing so.

The media advisor thus further devastates the already damaged reputation of the profession. She puts all journalists in the same basket, normalizes lies as part of journalistic work, and creates an image in the eyes of the non-journalistic world that journalists should not be trusted, because every journalist fabricates lies to lie on the beach/buy a jacket/adapt the bathroom. Do not trust them when they write about crime. Do not trust them when they report on the Chief. Simply, do not trust. Insult them, defame them, strike them. They deserve it.

Therefore, the story about Sveti Stefan far exceeds a personal anecdote and transforms into something grotesquely harmful for the entire media community in Serbia. The same community that Suzana Vasiljević and Aleksandar Vučić have humiliated, insulted, deceived, trampled on countless times, which they have crushed and devalued over the past 12 years.

And as if that were not enough.

Source: Cenzolovka