Čović’s media accused Komšić’s office of bribing Croatian media!

Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Criticism by the media from the neighboring Republic of Croatia against HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović, which has been coming in more and more lately, provoked by Čović's obvious subservience to Milorad Dodik's policy, has deeply upset Čović-controlled extremist and nationalist media in Western Herzegovina.

Such critical reviews of Čović's policy were not that frequent in the past, and the Croatian media almost never criticized the work of the HDZ president. However, his scandalous statements regarding the Srebrenica genocide, provoked sharp criticism from Croatia’s journalists.

That, however, was not appreciated by the media in BiH controlled by Čović and HDZ.

Thus pro-Čović portal Poskok in an article entitled ‘Can the Croatian government stop the dead Hanžeković from trading Croat destinies in BiH? Mastodon is dead. It should be able to do so now.’, accuses no less than the Office of Chairman of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić of bribing Slobodna Dalmacija and Jutarnji List, and even the Croatian Information Agency (HINA).

'It is clear that Komšić took away not only the presidential position but also the budget of the office financed by the BH Croats. He uses that money to pay for his PR articles in Croatia. This is how aggression on the media space in Croatia is carried away', Poskok writes.

They add that, if suppression of Croats in BiH is anti-state activity directed against Croatia, then Slobodna Dalmacija, Jutarnji, Telegram.hr, Stoposto.hr, movement Možemo etc. are anti state legal entities in Croatia.

What did upset so much this portal known solely for loud spreading of hate speech? First, the analyses that very precisely criticize the HDZ leader Dragan Čović in Slobodna Dalmacija and Jutarnji List.

‘Shameless: Dragan Čović and a handful of his HDZ members, together with Dodik and his Mladić-Karadžic brothers, tried to legalize complete freedom od denying Chetnik massacres in BiH’, read the headline in Slobodna Dalmacija after Čović's and HDZ's scandalous support for genocidal policies of Milorad Dodik in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Jutarnji list, on the same topic, asked what his protectors in Zagreb would have to say: ‘Indecent, immoral and selfish move of Dragan Čović’.

Clear-cut criticism of Slobodna Dalmacija continued through an article entitled: ‘Dodik and Čović are two eyes in the head: they have been leading a separatist revolution against BiH in the EU and NATO for years. The main question is why the HDZ BiH leader is protected by Plenković and Milanović in that pro-Russian deal.’

The fact that Željko Komšić spoke publicly about the pro-Russian alliance between Dodik and Čović, and that he repeatedly called the HDZ's adherence to Dodik's policy 'open support for separatism', does not diminish in any sense the truth of the Croatian media's insight, regardless whether Komšić said it or not. After all, Komšić is not the only one with such claims, but merely one in a sea of ​​those who see the obvious.

However, the facts obviously bother them, so Čović's media resent the Croatian media for allegedly imposing their political position, and not sharing insights and facts.

All this, of course, could not pass without the approval of Dragan Čović himself, who obviously has neither the courage nor the political capacity to enter into a discussion with the Croatian media and to refute the allegations with arguments.

Instead, using cowardly methods, Čović, through his media, is trying to impose a sense of guilt in the public of the Republic of Croatia and the local media because these media dare to call things by their real names.

Hence the public anger of his media, behind which stands Čović's indignation.