Election Campaign Antics Cross Borders, For What It’s Worth

Michael Hedges October 17, 2016 - Follow on Twitter

That the news media rides on the coat-tails of startling headlines and sound bites is far from a revelation. Social media throws little snippets of color onto a revolving pallet, often revolting. Managing all this, for one purpose or another, occupies the most sacred of democratic processes, elections. Facts are transient, spin normal. To deny, disclaim, has become high art.

Who could blame any editor anywhere during this season of crazy for being enticed by an offer of an exclusive with a local hook? So it was this past week as Serbian news magazine Nedeljnik published a blockbuster cover story. They had, or so they thought, an interview with US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Just the name attracts huge attention, at least for the next few weeks.

As details emerged post-publication, over the course of a year or so a Serb expat fixer offered to connect the magazine to Mr. Trump through the office of vice presidential running mate and Indiana governor Mike Pence. Email flowed. Cover story written and published. Copies fly off the newsstand shelves. Social media explodes owing, largely, to the interviews major take-away having Mr. Trump apologizing to the Serb people for the 1999 NATO actions to end ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and blaming then US president Bill Clinton for “creating chaos in the Balkans.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently and exhaustively engaged in the US presidential race, is favored to win.

Vladimir Rajcic, the fixer, is known in Serbia, though not well, as an aspiring political candidate, bit movie actor in the US and “manager of a large chain of new and used car dealerships in the state of Illinois,” reported Serbian news portal b92.net (October 14). He claimed contact with Mr. Trump through Indiana state campaign director Suzie Jaworowski. Nedeljnik’s editors accepted as verification photos of Mr. Rajcic with Ms Jaworowski, Governor Pence and other Republican politicians. Once the story achieved an international dimension - including a joyous response from Russian propaganda outlets - Trump campaign spokespersons rushed in to claim it was all a hoax.

In an open letter to readers, the Nedeljnik editorial team apologized profusely (October 13) and promised to get answers to questions about what actually happened. Two theories were offered. One suggests the magazine was scammed by Mr. Rajcic. He has steadfastly stood by his story. “They (Trump campaign officials) literally said if it is in the interest of the Trump campaign then (they will say) this is a fictional interview,” said Mr. Rajcic, quoted by Nedeljnik (October 13). "If you watch carefully you will notice that in these statements Trump now wants to say that he never apologized to Serbs for the bombing, although it's already done. I know who had the most influence on this, but we need evidence that I will soon announce.”

On the other hand, perhaps, they wrote, the interview was real but the Trump campaign, for whatever reason, wanted to deny it happened post-publication. A Trump campaign spokesperson seemed to lay blame at the magazine’s feet, consistent with the campaign theme of denigrating inconvenient news reports. Ms Jaworowski vociferously denied any involvement. The magazine - and others - noted that the Trump campaign only complained once the story was reported by news magazine Newsweek (October 13).

Pro-government, right-wing nationalist tabloid Informer (October 14) called the hoax story “a political earthquake in the United States.” Though noted by several US news outlets, the story never reached the level of a car crash on the New Jersey Turnpike. Other Trump escapades grabbed bigger headlines in the US and elsewhere. The Informer is “notorious,” said Index on Censorship (January 6), for producing negative articles about any news outlet challenging the government line.

Nedeljnik was formed in late 2011 by a group of Serbian journalists independent from other media houses and, notably, the subjects they cover. Marko Prelevic is managing editor. “Nedeljnik has built its reputation for years on serious interviews and analytical articles and columns,” wrote Center for Investigative Journalism Serbia (CINS) reporter and specialist in fact-checking Ivana Jeremic in Serbian media website cenzolovka.rs (October 14). “Today that hard earned reputation may be irreparably harmed by one possible error.”

In Serbia’s late April general elections, the Progressive Party of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic won a working parliamentary majority. A “limited” observer team from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) noted "the (media) sector is considered to be under the government’s influence and there is an overall trend of tabloidization, with current affairs programming narrowing.” Monitoring by the Novi Sad School of Journalism found “election coverage in media was characterized by a large proportion of pseudo events, lack of balance and instrumentalization of crisis situations,” quoted by South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (July 1). OSCE is deploying 500 long and short term observers to monitor the US general elections, reported Deutsch Welle (September 6), up from about 60 in 2012. Media monitoring is being conducted by “eight or nine” specialists to look at "what kind of information voters are being provided with,” said spokesperson Thomas Rymer.

See also in ftm Knowledge

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 63 pages. PDF (December 2012)

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