A news story published today by several media outlets stating that the recognition of Kosovo has been handed to the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has turned out to be untrue.
This news was first published by the Serbian media outlet B92 and other media outlets, during the day when meetings began in Washington between the delegations of Kosovo and Serbia, mediated by the US. Meanwhile, the same was also translated, published and distributed by the Albanian media in Kosovo. B92, referring to the Serbian Minister of Finance, Sinisha Malli, announced that during the meeting at the White House, the Serbian delegation was presented with a letter, which contains several points and, according to this Serbian minister, one of them was mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia.
Excerpt from the B92 article:
The reaction of the US President's special envoy, Richard Grenell, was immediate. In a tweet, he denied the news that the Serbian president had allegedly been handed an agreement to recognize Kosovo.
Analyze:
Based on these facts, it appears that the disinformation could have been spread for two reasons: Serbian media misquoted Serbian officials and spread disinformation, or Serbian officials made untrue statements. Accordingly, the article in question is categorized as disinformation, fake news, denial, biased reporting, and spreading false news.
Reasoning:
Disinformation
A “Disinformation” rating is given to media reporting that contains a “mix” of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful content. This rating will also address reports that have incorrect attributions or headlines that do not reflect the text in terms of information accuracy.
Fake news
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.
Denial
The “Denial” rating is an additional rating, which is given in cases where the media determines that the published content is in one of the above categories of negative ratings, and in accordance with this knowledge denies it 1) in accordance with the facts 2) in a visible manner, in accordance with the principles of publishing denials.
Biased reporting
A media report is considered “biased reporting” if it is clearly seen to favor facts, positions and conclusions that align with a particular narrative, often disregarding the rule of contact with the other party when it comes to claims that are damaging to someone’s reputation or portrayed by certain actors with a negative approach. One form of biased reporting is the selective presentation of facts, where facts that support a particular thesis are emphasized, while facts that do not confirm it are neglected.
Broadcasting fake news
This rating is given to media reports that broadcast original content from another media outlet that contains fake news. The rating is only given for broadcasting content that is categorized as fake news.