Disinfo Brief #1

Disinfo Brief is a new DFC publication that provides a monthly overview of the key disinformation, narratives, and propaganda developments that the DFC team researched and debunked to raise awareness of the issue and its extent. After 36 issues and numerous most pressing topics addressed in DFC magazine, we decided to step outside the journalism […]

DFC Monitoring of the Serbian media 2020/2021

This report is based on an analysis of a year-long monitoring process that lasted from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, done by the Digital Forensic Center (DFC). The focus was on the Serbian media outlets, which have a great readership in Montenegro. The report seeks to identify the primary narratives about Montenegro that […]

Russian Intelligence Services

Structural reshaping of the international order upon the end of the Cold War caused a redefinition of the Russian Federation’s political position in the new constellation of power and, in a long-term perspective, initiated a revision of the state approach to the Russian foreign policy concept. Feeling of historic humiliation with the events from the […]

DFC Study – Russia’s role in the Balkans: The Case of Montenegro

This study Russia’s Role in the Balkans: The Case of Montenegro aims to expose the Kremlin’s malign influence on Montenegro to Montenegrin and the broader public, exercised through the soft power implementation between Crimea annexation and July 2021. The goals, the methods, the collaborators, and the effects of the Russian soft power in Montenegro have […]

The police–media anointment

The anointment of the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) Joanikije (Micovic) in Cetinje on September 5, renewed the atavisms of mutual historical conflicts of the two opposing concepts and narratives – the Greens and the Whites, Partisans and Chetniks, sovereigntists and unitarists, thus deepening the ambiance of existential […]

Public opinion survey – Media literacy and the citizens of Montenegro

About the survey The public opinion survey on media usage and media literacy represents a repeated quantitative survey, with the aim of annually following the tendencies and changes in attitudes and opinions of the citizens of Montenegro when it comes to the critical perception of the media content and media usage. The survey was conducted […]

The Serbian World – Originally Borrowed Concept

Serbia has distinguished itself as a testing ground for articulating Russian interests, as a predominantly Orthodox state, in which the notions of nationality and religion are considered identical. Issues of nation and religion are often mixed, and Serbianness and Orthodoxy are equated. These are very suitable specifics for the action of Russian soft power in […]

Meritocracy – a principle only on paper

Proclaimed principles of the new government, with the principle of meritocracy being particularly emphasized, have announced that the changes in all areas of Montenegrin society, including the intelligence and security sector, will be characterized by further necessary professionalization and modernization. This would ultimately result in a more efficient structure of the National Security Agency and […]

Media coverage of Election Day in Niksic: Heightening tensions and spreading narratives

The Election Day in Niksic passed in a relatively peaceful atmosphere, even though during the weeks prior to March 14, these elections had been evaluated as historic. Several (minor) incidents were reported, such as a violent attempt of mail-in voting reported by the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI). However, numerous pieces of disinformation and […]