Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
An article titled "" has been published.Baton Haxhiu attacks Kurti: His narrative is in line with Serbia".
it CONTENT was published on Thursday (October 2) by the online medium "botasot.info".
What's wrong with the title?
Although the colon heading format can be used to introduce a quote, the part after the colon is not understood as being a quote from Haxhiu, an explanation, summary, or consequence of what was said before the colon.
Punctuation mark, two points (:) is mainly used to introduce a list, a quotation, or an explanation that follows an independent word (complete sentence).
The two dots in this title imply that the sentence following them is a quote or an explanation of Haxhiu's action.
The same article was also published on the media outlet's Facebook page, where it has received over 80 comments by the time of writing. From their content, it can be estimated that readers may interpret the sentence after the colon in the title as a quote from Haxhiu (see here).
The headline of the news item clarifies the statement of the subject discussed in the article when it is stated that, "Analyst Baton Haxhiu, in an interview with ABC News, accused acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti of populism and "political delirium," saying that his actions endanger Kosovo's independence and the Ahtisaari Package."
The text lacks a direct quote from Haxhiu, so hibrid.info has researched the alleged statement.
The search found an article published on the website of the medium "abcnews.al", with the title "'Kurti, between populism and delirium'/ Analyst Baton Haxhiu: He is undermining Kosovo's independence".
The direct quote included in this article matches the alleged statement in the “botasot.info” article (see here).
Haxhiu's quoted statement:
"We are dealing with populism. This populism has affected an extremely young generation. It has absorbed the ideology and populism of Albin Kurti. Anyone who says Albin Kurti is easy to win is wrong. We have a man who considers suffering a privilege. Politically, he is unreasonable. The political world of Kosovo has built independence on the Ahtisaari package. Within this, the problems of ethnic groups in Kosovo are also addressed. He wants the Third Republic, and when he touches Ahtisaari, he risks everything that has been created in these years. The compromises are in the Ahtisaari package. Since we have a distance of 15 years since independence, Mr. Kurti thinks there is enough time to build a new republic, without Ahtisaari. We have a man who wants a political point in his life, the war. To show that his political weight is through the police and the special unit. Europeans are concerned about the Ahtisaari package. The US wants the Kosovo embassy to be left at the second level and Third. The information is certain that some of the ambassadors in the world, this is certain. For us it would be bad news.
In the following sentence of the headline, after the sentence that Haxhiu has accused Kurti of populism and "political delirium", it continues: "But his statements are part of a familiar narrative – one that comes from Belgrade and aims to present Kosovo as fragile.".
This makes it clear that the sentence after the colon in the title is not a quote from Haxhiu about Kurti, but according to the article, an interpretation of Haxhiu's actions.
However, the ambiguity in the title also lies in the fact that the article was published as news which is a type of informative journalism, where assessments and interpretations are usually avoided, unlike analytical journalism that allows them.
Hibrid.info has also checked the full video of the show “Real Story”, where Baton Haxhiu participated as a panelist. In the video material found on the official channel of the medium “ABC News Albania” on Youtube, published on September 29, it was not noticed that Haxhiu assessed Kurti’s narratives in line with Serbia (see here).
Analyze:
The online medium "botasot.info" published the article with the title "Baton Haxhiu attacks Kurti: His narrative is in line with Serbia". The title has created ambiguity, due to the possible interpretation of the part after the colon (:) in the title by readers.
Based on the way the title was structured and due to the lack of clarity, readers on Facebook seem to have interpreted the phrase after the colon as a quote from Haxhiu. However, the part after the colon was the author's interpretation of Haxhiu's statements and not a direct quote from him.
The article was published as news, where subjective interpretations and assessments are usually avoided.
Therefore, based on the working methodology, hibrid.info considers the title of this article "Clickbait".
Reasoning:
“Clickbait” is considered to be informational content whose title is general and does not disclose the location of the event, context and relevance. Such texts and articles aim to attract the attention of the audience with sensational headlines with misleading consequences, which do not accurately clarify the content of the article. “Clickbait” headlines are mainly made to attract readability in the case of media publications and/or to earn from clicks in the case of commercial publications.