Croatian Rightists Target Media Critics of Sporting Nationalism

Media criticism of the nationalist flavour of Croatia's World Cup celebrations has angered right-wing fans - who have compiled a list of journalists that are reporting «negatively» about Croatia and are supposedly staining its reputation.

The black list of allegedly unpatriotic reporters has circulated on social networks and right-wing websites.

Vojislav Mazzocco, one of the journalists on the list - which claims that he reports for the Serbian daily Politika - told BIRN that the list is clearly wrong as he never wrote for that media outlet.

Zarko Puhovski, a well known political analyst who is also on the list, noted that he has never written for the Washington Post, as the list asserts.

«The list is full of partial information. Those who put it together do not even know the difference between reporters' real names and pseudonyms,» Puhovski said.

«The people who are on the list don't have much in common, except that they are listed there on the basis of their names and surnames. Obviously, those who put us together on the list did not even read our texts,» said Nikola Vukobratovic, who wrote for the now closed Le Monde diplomatique -Croatian edition - not French Le Monde, as was written on the list.

Croatia's second place at the World Cup in Russia - after losing 4-2 to France in the final - was the country's best-ever performance in an international tournament and caused widespread jubilation.

However, the mood of national unity was fractured after the players celebrated their triumph back home in the presence of a controversial nationalist singer, Marko Perkovic «Thompson».

The appearance of the right-wing balladeer, whose concerts are often marked by anti-Serbian chants and...