Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
An article titled "Military helicopter crashes, 8 people die" was published, attached to a photograph showing three helicopters near a bridge.
This article was published today (August 7) by the Albanian-language online medium "Kosovo-sot.info".
What's wrong with this article?
After research conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the title is a generalization that does not clarify that the event took place in the state of Ghana. While the photograph was taken in Kosovo during 1999.
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” is registered in Kosovo, at the Business Registration Agency (ARBK) and has the majority of Albanian-speaking readers (here), therefore, the lack of clarity in the title about where the event took place may lead to misinformation that the event occurred in Albanian-speaking areas.
Only after clicking on the article, the content clarifies that "Ghana's defense and environment ministers are among eight people killed after a military helicopter crashed in the southern Ashanti region on Wednesday.".
To further prove that the case occurred in Ghana, hibrid.info has found the article published in foreign media as "Al Jazeera"and "CNN".
Apart from the general title, the photo in this article does not match the news. Hibrid.info has verified the origin of this photo and has discovered that it was taken in 1999 in Kaçanik. The photo was found published on the well-known image sharing platform, “GettyImages”. (see here)
Description of the photo published on "GettyImages", translated into Albanian:
British Puma military transport helicopters fly over a bridge leading to Kaçanik on June 13, 1999, bringing another wave of soldiers and equipment to Kosovo. British NATO troops entered Kosovo on June 12 as part of the international peacekeeping force for Kosovo (KFOR).
Analyze:
The portal "Kosova-sot.info" published an article with the title "Military helicopter crashes, 8 people die", which was accompanied by a photograph of three helicopters near a bridge.
After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the title is general and does not indicate that the event took place in Ghana, which could lead to misinformation for Albanian-speaking readers. Also, the photo used is not related to the case. It was taken in Kaçanik in 1999 and was published on the “GettyImages” platform.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates this article as "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.