STIGMATIZATION OF SERBS AND THE 5TH GENERATION HYBRID WARFARE

Abstract

The focus in this paper is on the synthesized image of propagandistic, communicatively harmonized and totalitarian media engineering during the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, which reduced the complex reality to simple, imaginary notions of guilt of only one side. That was achieved by a strong campaign from influential global media. Framing propaganda narratives into distorted media frames created a negative perception of Serbs. In that way, in the real environment, various methods and techniques of later 5th generation hybrid warfare were practically applied, based on the combined use of psychological propaganda and armed activities of operational or tactical level. The new model of information warfare meant the elimination of alternative sources of information, including their physical destruction, which was realized for the first time in world practice by bombing the RTS (Radio Television of Serbia) headquarters and over 300 relay stations and transmitters across the country. This paper discusses changes that transform the meaning of media philosophy, where manipulative notions of a “new reality” rise instead of the truth, in a way that follows the interests of powerful world states. In the new circumstances, journalism and the media are separating, because the truth is being sacrificed for the profit offered by the military industry and the dominant political elites.