Is the pig pink

The conflict between the owner of RTV Pink Željko Mitrović and the influencer Bogdan Ilić, better known as Baka Prase, entered its second week and gained new, one would say institutional elements.

It all started when, in one of his speeches, Baka Prasa called out Mitrović, insulted him and accused him of owing him money for a long time and of "stealing" his concept, not to mention an essay on an influencer TV channel. As we already wrote, Pink really launched RED TV two years ago, in order to attract a younger audience using the format of digital platforms and social networks on television. Then Radio Laguna was bought and rebranded and became RED radio. Apparently, Željko Mitrović wanted to get closer to a younger, urban audience in the future, which is still not his majority audience. Pink's most watched programs are still Turkish series and reality shows.

On the other side, we have Bogdan Ilić, a guy who really independently built his business exclusively in the digital sphere. He is from a priestly family, which will prove to be an important detail in the conflict with the owner of Pink today, and he was supposed to study piano after music school. However, he dedicated himself to computer games (LOL), participated in gaming competitions and reached first place in the world with the Serbian team. He created his own YouTube channel, first for gaming, then for funny videos and hip-hop songs. He has over two million followers, and the number of views of his clips has exceeded one billion. He is the owner of the brand "Shaim se" and a game room. At only 26 years old, this guy managed to create an empire, earn serious money and become among the younger audience in the region what Mitrović is in the television medium.

So what could have disturbed this idyll and led to mutual smearing of poo in countless shades of pink? Logical, money!

Victory of Granny Pig

Here I agree with those who do not need to load additional meanings, going so far as to symbolically see pink Mordor on the one hand and the hobbits on the other. However, the seemingly bizarre showdown between two yesterday's acquaintances, maybe even friends, revealed several layers of social pathology, pointed out the essential shortcomings of our media scene and marked the most serious collision between two generations and two media, television and the Internet. I think it would be completely wrong to view this conflict as a meeting of absolute good and absolute evil or to describe it as a media-amplified and screened clash of generations in live.

The only aspect of this battle, the results of which we can measure, is related to the mathematical and statistical number of views and followers. The result is clear, Grandpa Pig won, that is, the Internet won over television. What is unequivocal and also obvious is the fact that one kid at home, with negligible production costs, can produce content that in terms of views surpasses a one-week campaign of the entire television system.

The battle of David and Goliath

This battle of David and Goliath was won thanks to the lucidity of the influencer, which is definitely Grandma Pig, his past work (he has a channel since 2016), but also the features of new digital media that easily and quickly reach millions of followers. Željko Mitrović entered the war with Baka Praset through a quasi-documentary film about his disastrous influence on young people, portraying him as a cocaine addict, a gay gigolo, a bully on social networks responsible for the suicide of a girl, for sex with a minor, non-payment of taxes, and payment of rackets mobsters. You will notice an unusually large number of autobiographical details from the life of DJ Žex in this part. A song with a message was also created - Attack on Piggy! Big money was spent to announce the song and the special show in digital media. Before it aired, every time you went online, a song or announcement from Pink would pop up.

In vain, the individual managed to defeat the entire pink television, but in his own, digital universe. The number of views and followers increased on both sides, Željko had a TV audience, Baka Prase had a digital one, and thus a conspiracy theory appeared, according to which this showdown is in fact a big fraud to further boost both actors. Both are winners, Mitrović got shares and ratings, and Baka Prase got new subscribers, likes and views.

Personally, it may be a draw, but television as the most important mass medium has experienced a defeat, and that is the one that has been beating itself up for decades to reach every viewer and know his/her needs. That's why I'm sure that this victory will not be forgiven by Bucky Pig.

On whose side is the government?

It only took a few days for the Prosecutor's Office to invite citizen Bogdan Ilic to an informative interview after the show was shown on Pink, because they saw on TV that he has a lot of money, so they suspect that he doesn't pay taxes (or doesn't pay enough), and they saw how lines of cocaine are allegedly drawn there, so they suspected that someone was using drugs there. It is interesting that they did not react to all the accusations that Baka Prase also made against Mitrović, because the Prosecutor's Office seems to have only one TV channel and that is, you guessed it, Pink.

This detail also shows who has Vlast on their side, which is the basic and essential difference between DJ Žex and Baka Praset. Pink is only an apparently entertainment program, but it is essentially a propaganda channel of every regime since its inception. He is a tool in dealing with political dissidents, and now he is faced with the fact that there is a tool that is stronger and is not under control. Truth be told, Granny Pig, like most of our influencers, has so far stayed seriously out of politics. Such is the case with the hip-hop, trap, turbo-trap music scene, which is completely apolitical and escapist. Cars, money, oil, fish, and that's where the story ends. Every rapper's dream is to be a guest with Amidžić, on Toxic or IDJ TV. There is no sign of rebellion or subversion here. Social Darwinism, possibly patriotic fan-type messages.

Baka Prase may therefore be the first victim of her own success and victory, not because of Mitrović, but as a message to all influencers that they should continue to engage in banter, not politics.

Selective use of the law

Imagine now, hypothetically, that Granny Pig really goes to the Prosecutor's Office and gives a statement. He obviously knows Mitrović, his habits, possible vices, and he accused him of serious crimes, practically the same ones that Pink accuses Grandma Praset of. Although I am not a lawyer, a useful tip comes to mind, based on similar cases, as in Anglo-Saxon law.

Namely, when recently in Montenegro the Prosecutor's Office called on the resigned Prime Minister Dritan Abazović to explain the accusations of organized crime that he made in the parliament, the man went and presented what most citizens of Montenegro know, but keep silent: the names of clan leaders, warehouses of smuggled cigarette, fake cigarette factory, steam washing mechanism, and all under the protection of people from Milo's party. Now the prosecutor's office there is in a mess because, for example, it needs to go to Bran Mićunović and ask him if he is some kind of underworld boss. Of course, they won't do anything.

Imagine Baka Prase describing the dealers and mobsters he met, and Željko Mitrović was also there. It's like when a business partner shoots Peconi in front of witnesses while they are carrying out some transitional privatization, and afterwards none of those present, including the one who was shot, remembers anything.

Selective use of law and justice is the worst, even worse than lawlessness. It shows that the commercial media are part of the regime, so they are protected not only by institutions like REM, which do not see the show about Granny Praset on Pink as an abuse of the national frequency, but as a "public interest" of the citizens of Serbia.

"I'm ashamed"

For the sake of complete truth, this should also be said. Grandma Pig is a representative of a new generation that knows how to use digital media. They enable authors to conquer a new area of ​​freedom. However, it has been shown in the world that the most popular influencers rarely use that influence to promote certain values ​​and ideas.

Hip-hop started as a black CNN, and it turned into a barren waving of money, cars, drugs and chicks. It's amazing how the commercialization of rap led to Wall Street and the stock market and huge sums of money, but sterilized it along the way. Today's influencers play the role of Oprah in the digital sphere, handing out expensive gifts to the audience while hunting for sponsors.

Granny Pig is just a domestic example of a culture of ridicule and bullying that only sees this won freedom as a way to make money. You can see this irony in the videos of the Split genius Vojko V, who describes local rappers who insert gudra or utoka into their songs or videos so that the younger audience can digest them. It is the wolf skin of today's generation.

In the language of the nineties, Baka Prase has an independent media in his hands, and he gained popularity by bragging, making fun of others, and was often accused of bullying in the digital community.

This is his tragic mistake, because all these years he was recording and working without responsibility for what he said and did. That tragic unconsciousness or its harmful consequences cannot be justified only by joking, or by saying "I'm just kidding".

The same excuse is used by Željko Mitrović when he is accused of the disastrous influence of Pink on the audience all these decades. He gives the people what they want, hence the millions of messages to continue the "Cooperative". Anyone who is over 15 years old will hardly be able to watch Baka Praset's clips, because it is the same value system and the same mental level that you see in "Zadruga" publications, and with media analysis it is possible to follow the spread of sexually transmitted diseases from Baka Praset's digital channel to the starlet from Pink. It seems to be similar with other vices in which the prosecution is interested.

Breaking the media blockade

Therefore, influencers should not be expected to be a substitute for professional media, because Grandma Pig is not a digital version of N1 or Nova S. She can only be a confirmation that it is possible to overcome the media blockade and that the opposition does not even remotely know how to use digital media. Instead, they mostly imitate Baku Praset or try to take over the format of the regime's tabloids, dreaming like Boško Obradović that the public in Serbia will come to their senses if he addresses them during the Second Dnevnik on RTS.

It seems to me that the government is aware of this to a much greater extent. That's why on television you have AV announcements on Instagram, beautiful pictures from Serbia are chosen, or with guests, but in an informal atmosphere. Đuka politely discusses on Twitter forums, MPs post sexy photos like a starlet, while furious cars drive through Belgrade with pouty lips. SNS obviously desperately wants to be digitized, while opponents of the government are autistically, mostly pub-wise, on Twitter.

This conflict on the pink spectrum of the media scene is just a demonstration exercise of future digital campaigns in some upcoming elections where the stakes will be much more serious. Television will obviously not be enough. Torture never stops! ¶