On the front pages of the regime's press, photos of the "enemy" are again edited to make them look inhuman and evil, like zombies
"Vučić offered them a referendum, the people of Đilas got scared," the tabloid Informer announced on its front page on Wednesday.
Tabloids close to the government have again recognized the theme. But they also went into graphic processing again. On the front pages, opposition politicians and other critics of the government are again depicted as zombies. Faded, avoided, with enhanced shadows...
Such image manipulation on Twitter is nicknamed the "hostile filter".
While on the same pages, government representatives, starlets or athletes look healthy and rosy, enemies look as if they have been washed away by a flood. Our newsletter "Međuvreme" dealt with that topic a few months ago.
How to make an "enemy filter"?
As Ivan Hrašovec, the technical editor of Vremena, said at the time, all photos - especially in newspapers - undergo processing, if only to adapt to the type of print and paper.
"That's why tools are used that basically change the contrast and color saturation," Hrasovec said.
"But when the parameters are set to maximum values, unrealistic, even unrecognizable photos are obtained." A person with a slightly rosy face can appear flushed, and someone whose face has slight bumps can appear deflated."
"Thus, you did not modify the photo in the sense that you removed or added something to it, but you took the existing information to unrealistic extremes and discredited it," stated Hrašovec.
Can it be sued?
Lawyer Marko Pantić thinks that the media can be sued for injury to honor and reputation due to such manipulation.
"On the other hand, public figures - and especially politicians - are obliged to suffer more." That's why I wouldn't dare to predict whether they would be successful in the dispute before the court," Pantić added for "Međuvreme".
Although some politicians are constantly targeted by hostile filters, the Press Council has never received a complaint about this kind of defamation, said Tamara Skrozza, a long-time member of the Council's Complaints Commission.
"Such photo manipulation is against the journalistic code, because it violates the principle of truthful reporting," Skrozza said.
The goal is to dehumanize the victims
"Reporting is not only text and video, but also photography." Any malicious processing of it is prohibited, except possibly as part of cartoons or some entertaining pages."
As this editor at the FoNet news agency added, tabloids "dehumanize" their victims in this way. "That's the essence of their existence anyway." This, of course, further pollutes and polarizes the public space."
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