Dušan Stojaković, President of the Serbian Public Relations Society (DSOJ): With communication against the coronavirus

Let communication become our medicine both in treating the coronavirus and human limitations. Let’s move on! 

Communication! An integral part of our lives at all times. Like the drug, in the right doses, applied in the right way, it can very successfully heal, soothe and have a beneficial effect. On the other hand, in the hands of the ignorant, vain and unskilled people, communication can scare, hurt and poison. All in all, we have to communicate, over and over again. Just as our ancestors did from the moment they “discovered” communication, and through all the phases of interaction from the first manifestations of life, through the emergence of the Homo sapiens, to all known epochs of human development.

Dušan Stojaković, President of the Serbian Public Relations Society (DSOJ)

The purpose of communication

It is absurd that today, in the age of hypothetical temporary global stagnation, caused mostly by the COVID-19 pandemic, when logical communication should be at its peak, – both stylistically and technologically, we forget what its essence and purpose are. And we are also communicating increasingly less and increasingly worse. Should that be the case? Somehow, we are losing power or just forgetting how to show the world what is bothering us.


“Communication is used to announce and apply our purpose to life in the world that surrounds us. We love communicating. We are born, grow, develop and become (better) people thanks to it”


At least that’s how it should be. We are taking our first steps with it. We are taking the right steps with it. We are conquering the world – socializing, learning, researching… At this point, you are probably asking yourself what is the problem then?! The problem lies in us – our fears, doubts, stage freight, fears, weaknesses, wrong goals, ideas and aspirations which all make us wrong creators and users of communication, which becomes a kind of sedative for everything that bothers us or a dangerous shortcut for what may not belong to us.

If it weren’t for communication…

Let’s go back to the beginning of the story.

We first heard about COVID-19 late last year thanks to communication, although we didn’t really have to find out the meaning of this medical term. We learned about the COVID contagion thanks to communication, mostly digital one. We know everything about the coronavirus victims in China and the strict measures of isolation, or the situation in Italy, or the situation anywhere in the world thanks to communication. Communication was also used when the pandemic escalated in Serbia. Communication locked us in our houses, made us work remotely, told us how to behave, how and where to wear a mask and another million details. Communication also scared and enraged us. And it made us laugh. And so on. But, again, what is the problem then?


“Being locked away into our microworlds, we somehow locked communication as well. We have forgotten that communication is medicine for our souls and the only engine that drives the whole world”


Bad communication is like a bad heart muscle, which no longer pumps with the same strength, so some thoughts easily escape to the place where they shouldn’t – into the depths of our mind, fears, dilemmas – instead of us communicating about everything; especially about those things that worry or scare us. And there are a lot of them today – health, finances, future… Everything is easier when it is shared. Again, thanks to communication. That’s why it was invented.

Communication therapy against corona

If we take into account that communication warns us of danger, gives us guidelines on how to reduce risks and how to be safer and preserve health, as well as where to turn if we notice any suspicious symptoms – then communication can be considered a cure. It’s communication therapy against corona. And everyone should apply this therapy regularly and without hesitation.

But, here again, we only scratched the surface, because health is not only physical. It is mental, spiritual and social. And for these segments of health, we prescribe therapy and prevention based on the best examples of communication, which are presented by the best PR campaigns and projects submitted for the 2020 Serbian Public Relations Society Award.

Before and after

Communication existed even before COVID-19 and it will exist after. We must not forget that communication must not stop because, in that case, the world would stop too. Let communication become our medicine both in treating the coronavirus and human limitations. Let’s move on! Find out what marked communication in Serbia in 2019/20 and learn from the best in practice. The 2020 Award is soon on the air!

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