Troll of the Month: Laert Vasili
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkan region. On 10 February 2026, during the recording of Përputhen on Top Channel, actor, …
Media targeting of a woman of Bosnian origin in the Epstein affair
The published documents contain no incriminating facts against the woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina who is mentioned, nor are they in the public interest When an event becomes known internationally in which a person of Bosnian and Herzegovinian origin is one of the main actors, media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina often rush to publish …
Monthly Highlights January: Sensationalism, Sexism and Nationalism
During January, the RDN monitoring team identified a range of hateful narratives and discourse driven by sensationalistic reporting, sexism and misogyny, nationalism and ethnic hatred. Sensationalistic and unprofessional reporting in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina Albanian media reported extensively on a serious case of sexual abuse involving a 12-year-old girl who was found to be approximately 22 weeks pregnant following a medical …
From Belgrade to Prishtina: Women Who Refused to Be Silent
On August 14, 2025, after one of many student protests in Belgrade, a group of students was attacked by the police while heading home and taken to a nearby garage. Among them was Nikolina Sinđelić, a survivor of police brutality. “As we were walking down Nemanjina Street, we encountered members of the JZO (Unit for …
Breaking Words, Building Bridges: Regional Experts Warn Against Rising Polarisation in the Balkans
Hate speech in the Western Balkans is becoming more complex, layered, and increasingly used as a political weapon, according to new media monitoring reports presented at the regional conference Breaking Words, Building Bridges: Responses to Polarisation in the Western Balkans held in Belgrade, Serbia. The Reporting Diversity Network (RDN) showcased its third set of reports …
TROLL OF THE MONTH – SELECTION CRITERIA
The goal of the Reporting Diversity Network 2.0 monitoring is to identify and document the most significant cases (‘incidents’) of hate speech and divisive discourses in the Western Balkans media. Incidents are defined by the speaker regardless of where they occurred, but monitoring refers to their media coverage. They can originate in the Parliament, party …
Troll of the Month: The Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Mioković
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkan region. The Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliament …
The Metamorphosis of Prime Minister Edi Rama: From Hate Speech to the Use of Deepfakes
Prime Minister Edi Rama has targeted journalist Blendi Fevziu, host of one of Albania’s most-watched political talk shows, Opinion, through a series of posts on social media that used images generated by artificial intelligence (AI), known as “deepfakes.” These posts were accompanied by denigrating and delegitimizing language directed not only at Fevziu personally, but at …
Monthly Highlights December
During December, the RDN monitoring team identified a range of hateful narratives and discourse driven by anti-LGBTQI+ discourse, sexism alongside the glorification of war criminals, the publication of unverified information and the normalisation of gender-basedviolence. Anti-LGBTQI+ discourse in Albania In two separate television appearances in December, lawyer Zace Islami made a series of extreme anti-LGBTQ+ statements on national broadcasters …
Words don’t leave bruises, but they can hurt more than punches
When we talk about violence in general, we can agree that it has been omnipresent in today’s media. Every day we watch different types of physical violence happening abroad, but also domestically, and very consciously we condemn and judge what we see. However, a form of violence which is frequently, almost always disregarded, we can …
