Serbian language media outlet "happytv.rs" published an article yesterday (May 30) regarding a statement about developments in Kosovo by Mircea Geoan.ă, Deputy Secretary General of NATO.
The article is titled "VOICE OF REASON? NATO Deputy Secretary General CONDEMNS KFOR'S REACTION."
After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was found that the title does not correspond to the content.
Link to the article published on "happytv.rs":
Parts of the article published on "happytv.rs":
NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Ioan, strongly condemned today the attacks on KFOR forces in northern Kosovo.
In fact, "happytv.rs" took the content of the article from the Serbian news agency "Tanjug.rs", but manipulated it through the title, not accurately presenting Geoană's statement.
While on “tanjug.rs” the title of this article is “NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana condemned the attack on KFOR in northern Kosovo” (here), "happytv.rs" has manipulated the title, claiming something else.
The content of the article is based on a statement by NATO representative Geoana made during a visit to Montenegro, where he also spoke about the attack on KFOR troops in northern Kosovo.
"NATO strongly condemns yesterday's unprovoked attacks against KFOR troops in northern Kosovo. Such attacks are completely unacceptable." (here)
So, Geoana condemned the attack on KFOR troops in northern Kosovo, but did not condemn their reaction, as the Serbian media outlet claims in the title of the article regarding this.
In addition, at least 25 soldiers of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, have been injured as a result of clashes with Serbian citizens in the municipality of Zvecan in northern Kosovo, the mission announced in a press release. (here)
Analyze:
The title does not correspond to the content of the article published in the Serbian language media outlet "happytv.rs" regarding the statement of NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana regarding the attack on KFOR troops in the north.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this claim as "manipulation of facts".
ASSESSMENT:
The evaluation as "Manipulation of facts" is given to those media reports that use facts known to be correct, but interpret them in a distorted way. These reports typically use inaccurate information to draw inaccurate conclusions or claims, thereby misdirecting consumers' conclusions of media content in relation to the actual meaning of the facts presented.