The Informer’s interview with serial rapist Igor Milošević is supposed to tell us a lesson in how women should behave when he rapes them and how women can avoid him hurting them, because (in his own words) he will rape them again and they know it. And even though this piece is a product of Serbian tabloid journalism, it’s too much.
Another thing… Serbian tabloids thought it was normal to interview the recently released serial rapist Igor Milošević. Even for a media scene as disgusting as ours, this is a lot. From the point of view of ethics, humanity and morality, the unthinkable has happened. And it is not just that someone has taken statements from a serial rapist, nor is it the first time that the media has quoted statements from criminals, but, when it comes to violence against women, this is the worst thing to be published so far.
There was already an interview given by Ninoslav Jovanović, the now deceased abductor of the little girl Monika K., which he gave for Kurir daily. However, there is a well-founded suspicion that that interview was completely fabricated. This one, in the Informer, is not fabricated, because it comes with a video clip and is advertised on social networks with the caption ‘EXCLUSIVE’.
We saw the statements given by the killers of women in front of the cameras, but that was something completely different. Allow us to take some time and explain the context in which such a thing is acceptable.
In 2016, the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) aired a great documentary by author Ana Manojlović called “The victim has a female face”. The film deals with femicide and in it, experts and the victims’ families speak about concrete examples and the whole phenomenon of violence against women and femicide as its most terrible outcome is explained to the uninitiated viewer. Only in one small part, Ana Manojlović talks to convicts who killed their wives and it is more than clear what the author wants us to understand – that is the mind of a killer. At one point, she asks the killer if something could have been done differently. In the previous part of the conversation, she, for instance, asks him why he did not agree to the divorce. The killer replies: “Well, she could have listened to me and stayed with me.” So from his perspective, he sees her as his property and when she decides to leave, that will be the end of her.
Informer’s interview is not that, although the broadcasting networks claim that such interviews are conducted all over the world so that “the people understand how a rapist thinks.” Not so! This interview did not do that. This interview is about Igor Milošević threatening and announcing that he will rape again and he even gives instructions on how women should behave in order not to hurt them. There is no force that will make us quote such disgusting statements. This is the bottom line…. The fact that Igor Milošević has no remorse and no compassion for the victims is no wonder because if he had, he would not have raped.
The problem is that Informer doesn’t have it either, and is devoid of mercy and dignity. Actually, the real problem is that the journalist who did the interview has even agreed to do it. The problem is also that she wasn’t sick to her stomach while doing her work.
So today, when you come across this interview on social media, don’t share it and be disgusted. Post a picture of Dragan J. Vučićević (editor of the Informer) to constantly remind everybody that this is the man who gave media space to a multiple rapist only for him to announce that he will never stop raping.
By Jovana Gligorijević
(Vreme, 28.09.2022)
https://www.vreme.com/kolumna/igor-milosevic-u-informeru-platforma-za-visestrukog-silovatelja/