A photo material has been published on various social media profiles and accounts, falsely claiming that a tweet by journalist Berat Buzhala was shared on Twitter by Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia.
However, it has been proven that the photo is a montage and, as such, contains a false claim.
Links from posts published on Facebook:
The content of this photo purports to present a distribution with comment (retweet) of a tweet by Berat Buzhala, journalist and founder of the Kosovar media outlet "Nacionale", by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
Buzhala's tweet appears to contain content (in English) about his opinion on the challenges that, as he describes them, "face journalists who disagree with the government over recent developments in the north."
Excerpts from Berat Buzhala's tweet on his Twitter account translated into Albanian:
It is indeed a challenging situation for us Kosovo journalists who disagree with the Kurti government’s approach, especially regarding the northern part of Kosovo. We strongly believe that Kurti is making some wrong decisions, especially by turning against the entire international community that supports Kosovo, including our most important ally, the United States. We have warned people about the possible consequences of these actions.
Despite research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has not been able to find the authentic publisher of this photomontage.
However, this photo material with the same claim was published as true by the medium "botasot.info", but the article was later removed from the medium's website (see here).
While hibrid.info found the same article published on the medium "dtvmedia.tv" (see here).
But the authenticity of this material was also contested by the person mentioned in it. Journalist Berat Buzhala himself, through a post on his Facebook account, described the photo as "fake". (See Buzhala's reaction (here)
Hibrid.info, after research, has verified that the Serbian president's Twitter account does not show any shares of journalist Buzhala's post. (here)
In fact, from what was found by hibrid.info, it is implied that the author of this photo-montage used a retweet that Richard Grenell, former US President Donald Trump's delegate for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, had made to a post by Buzhala (see Grenell's retweet). This was used by the author of this photo material to create a claim that the comment was made by Serbian President Vučić.
The reaction of the Association of Kosovo Journalists (AGK) on Facebook also confirms that journalist Berat Buzhala has become the target of photo-montages. (see publication by AGK (here).
Analyze:
In a photo published on social media, it is alleged that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić shared on Twitter the tweet of journalist Berat Buzhala, director of the media outlet "Nacionale.com".
But this claim has been dismissed as a photo-montage. The post was actually shared by former ambassador Richard Grenell, not Vučić.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info considers this claim to be "fake news".
Reasoning:
The “Fake News” rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.