Wrote: Endrit Berisha
Through articles, it has been claimed that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti met with the Vice President of the United States of America (USA), Kamala Harris, during the Democratic Party Convention, held in Chicago.
The claim was published by the Albanian-language portals “botasot.info” and “ina-online.net” on Thursday (August 22) and was later shared by other portals. “Kurti meets with US Vice President Kamala Harris,” is the title of the articles in question.
What's wrong with the articles?
Hibrid.info, after verification, has found that Prime Minister Kurti has not announced any meeting with Harris in recent days, during his visit to the US. Even the photo used in these articles appears to be old.
The article also contains sentences that are not connected to each other. Initially, it is reported that Kurti is staying at the Democratic Party National Convention in Chicago in the USA, and then it talks about his meetings within the framework of the Paris Peace Forum.
Links to articles from "botasot.info" and "ina-online.net":
https://archive.ph/2aWa1#selection-3429.0-3432.0
https://archive.ph/8gEYs#selection-991.0-1002.0
After publication in these two media outlets, the article was also distributed in other media outlets (“infoshqip.com","arberia.tv","ora24.tv”And“kosova.info
The article continues with the sentence: "Through a Facebook post, Kurti announced that he had a meeting with the Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, and the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer."
This is not true. On the official website, Prime Minister Kurti has since gone to the US (August 19th) at the Democratic National Convention has made three posts, at least up until the time of this article. The first post was an interview for “Voice of America" and in the other two he announced several meetings. However, he did not indicate that he had met with Harris or Schumer as claimed (see here and here).
The photo used in this article appears to be from 2021. It was shared on Kurti's Facebook account (see here).
Furthermore, hibrid.info has also monitored the Prime Minister's website, in the area that displays official announcements about Kurti's meetings and his agenda. There was no announcement there about a meeting with Harris either (see here).
The articles in question from “botasot.info” and “ina-online.net” continue with the sentence that Kurti was received at a formal dinner by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. It is also reported there that Kurti has discussed “also cooperation and peace with the President of Montenegro, Milan Djukanovic, with the member of the Presidency of Bosnia, Željko Komšić, with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel and the Vice-President of the European Commission. Josep Borrell”.
After verification by hibrid.info, it appears that Kurti had announced these meetings in a Facebook post in November 2021 (See here).
Context:
On August 19, The Kosovo government announced that Prime Minister Albin Kurti has traveled to the United States of America to participate in the Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago. At this convention, US Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted NOMINATION of the Democratic Party to run for US president in the November elections.
Analyze:
The publication titled "Kurti meets with US Vice President Kamala Harris" by several Albanian-language media outlets contains inaccuracies. Prime Minister Albin Kurti has not announced any meeting with Harris in Chicago, as claimed in the report.
The article also links parts of the text to the Peace Forum and Kurti's Facebook posts. Hibrid.info has found that they are taken from posts from 2021.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses these publications as "Manipulation of facts" and "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.
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.