УПОРЕДНА АНАЛИЗА ПИСАЊА ИТАЛИЈАНСКЕ И ЈУГОСЛОВЕНСКЕ ШТАМПЕ ПРЕД И ТОКОМ НАПАДА ИТАЛИЈЕ НА ЈУГОСЛАВИЈУ У ДРУГОМ СВЕТСКОМ РАТУ
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE WRITINGS OF THE ITALIAN AND YUGOSLAV PRESS BEFORE AND DURING THE ITALIAN ATTACK ON YUGOSLAVIA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Summary/Abstract: The writing of the Italian and Yugoslav press was marked by the events of March 25 and 27, 1941. Italy welcomed the decision on Yugoslavia’s accession to the Triple Alliance: its press began to write very positively about Yugoslavia. At the same time, the image of Italy as an ally and friendly state began to emerge in Yugoslavia. This situation changed radically after the events of March 27, 1941. Reading and comparing the writings of the daily newspapers of the two countries, it could be concluded that this was not the same event at all. The differences were enormous in the representation of the other state: while the Yugoslav press still retained relatively positive writing about Italy, with very few negative images, the Italian press, in anticipation of war, and with the intention of justifying a possible attack on Yugoslavia, began to build a very negative image of the neighboring state. This was especially difficult to achieve because there was no good basis for such images from the previous period: because of this, the press often pointed out that Italy had tried in the past to establish friendship with Yugoslavia, to keep silent about the problems that existed, but that none of that worked, and that in the end, true Yugoslav nature came to the surface. Also, a very important feature of the Italian press in this period was the sharp separation of Serbs and Croats in writing; Serbs took on all the negative images of Yugoslavia, while Croats were presented as victims that Italy should help. However, the Italian press and diplomacy, in relation to Germany, were a bit more resereved, which probably gave hope to Yugoslavia that Italian interference in the war could be avoided. It was a matter of grabbing for crumbs – despite a very conciliatory and positive Yugoslav representation of Italy, the writing of the Italian media became sharper as the moment of the attack on Yugoslavia approached. In the end nothing could have stopped the attack on the Yugoslavia.

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