Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
During monitoring of media and social networks over the past week, it was found that manipulation of facts/disinformation and clickbait headlines dominated.
Manipulation of facts and disinformation have been published mainly on social networks and online portals. One such case was identified on May 6 on Facebook, where the page “Fleta Press” published a post claiming that the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, had declared: “Voters should remain calm, I will not betray them, we will co-govern with the PDK”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this statement was not made by Abdixhiku and constitutes a clear manipulation of the facts. Also, on May 6, the Albanian-language portal operating in Switzerland “Lecanton27.ch” published an article claiming that Albania pays its workers the least in the world, allegedly based on an international report on average wages. This claim was also denied by hibrid.info, as it turned out to be incorrect and without factual support.
Articles with clickbait titles, which present information in an exaggerated or misleading manner, misleading the reader about the real content. One of them is the article published on May 6 by the medium “Nacionale.com” with the title “Latest measurements: VV falls 5%, PDK grows”, where the information presented in the title was based only on a statement by a moderator, but was presented as a confirmed fact. Another case was identified on May 8 on the “NTV Televizione” channel on YouTube, where a video was published with the title “New fire in Kosovo politics – August or September decide the fate of the government”. From the analysis of the content, it was confirmed that it was a personal opinion regarding the possible timing of the elections and not about a decision made or a confirmed fact, which makes the title misleading and typical of clickbait-type content.
Last week, another case of misinformation being spread by some Albanian-language online media outlets was identified. On May 4, some Albanian-language online media outlets incorrectly reported that Pristina was among the cities with the most polluted air in the world. Fact-checking showed that, in fact, it was among the cities with the cleanest air that day.
A fake news story has been circulating over the past week claiming that Milan Radoićić has stated to Serbian media that he is in coordination with the opposition in Kosovo and has requested amnesty for the group involved in the attack in Banjska, in exchange for the Serbian List’s vote for a government composed of PDK, LDK and AAK. This claim, for which there is no verifiable source, was initially published on April 15 on Facebook by Fadil Pushkolli, editor-in-chief of “KosovaPost.net”, and was re-shared on May 7 by another Facebook account under the name “Gani Osmani”.
error
Several Albanian-language online media outlets reported yesterday (May 4) that Pristina is among the cities with the most polluted air in the world. The article with this claim was published by information portals such as, “Infosot.com”, “Gazeta10.com”, “Gazetainfokus.com”, “Kosovapost.net”, “Demokracia.com”, “Frontonline.net” and “Arbresh.info”. After verifying the facts, it was confirmed that the claim is incorrect. Pristina yesterday (May 4) was among the cities with the cleanest air in the world. (here)
Clickbait
An article titled, “Latest Measurements: VV Falls 5%, PDK Grows” has been published. The article was published (May 6) by the medium, “Nacionale.com”. The information came as a statement from a moderator, while the headline presented it as a confirmed fact. (here)
A video material is published with the title “New fire in Kosovo politics – August or September decides the fate of the government”. This content was published (May 8) on the “NTV Televizione” media channel on Youtube. Hibrid.info found in the content that we are dealing with a personal opinion on the possible timing of holding local elections and the current political situation created after the parliamentary elections of February 9, which may make the title misleading in this case. (here)
Manipulation of facts/Disinformation
Through a post published on Facebook, it is alleged that the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, has declared that “Voters should remain calm, I will not betray them, we will co-govern with PDK”. The post with this claim was published yesterday (May 6) on Facebook by the page “Fleta Press”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this statement was not made by Abdixhiku. (here)
Through a published article, it is claimed that according to an international report with a list of countries with average salaries worldwide, Switzerland leads with the highest salaries in the world, while “Albania pays its workers the least”. This article was published on May 6 by the Albanian-language portal operating in Switzerland “Lecanton27.ch”. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it was proven that the claim about Albania is incorrect. (here)
Fake news
A photo is published showing Milan Radoićić, the main accused in the armed attack in Banjska, Zvečan, with the claim that he has stated to Serbian media that they are constantly in coordination with the opposition in Kosovo, and have requested amnesty for the group accused of the armed attack, on the condition that the Serbian List votes for a government composed of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK). The post with this claim was published on April 15 on the Facebook account of Fadil Pushkolli, editor-in-chief of the media outlet “KosovaPost.net”. The same claim was found published yesterday (May 7) by another Facebook account, under the name “Gani Osmani”. Hibrid.info has not found any verifiable source for the alleged statement. (here)