Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
An article titled "The Albanian Language" was distributed in several Albanian-language online media outlets on Monday (August 25). "PDK votes for Dimal Basha as Speaker of the Assembly, says Çitaku - 'We just wanted to know if they are serious'".
The article was published by online media as, "Gazetainfokus.com","Gazeta10.com","Veriu.info","Ekonomiaonline.com","Frontonline.net","Demokracia.com","Nacionale.com"and "Gazetablic.com".
The truth?
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the deputy and secretary general of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Vlora Çitaku, did not explicitly say that "PDK votes Dimal Basha for Speaker of the Parliament", as claimed in the titles of the aforementioned articles.
The content of these articles does not mention that such a statement was given by Çitaku.
Hibrid.info found Çitaku's statement given to the online medium "VOX Kosova". In this interview, she spoke about Dimal Basha's candidacy for Speaker of the Parliament.
What did Çitaku say?
"... as we had agreed in the parliamentary group, we asked for a short pause, not because we had a vote against or because we would reject such a proposal, but we simply wanted to make sure that the Vetëvendosje Movement is serious about Mr. Dimal Basha's candidacy." (see here)
So, in no case did Çitaku definitively say that PDK would vote for Dimal Basha as Speaker of the Assembly.
A little context
On Sunday (August 24), the deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo gathered for the 57th session to elect the Speaker of the Assembly.
The Vetevendosje Movement came up with three proposals. Initially, for the second time in a row, the acting Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati, was proposed, but he failed to get the necessary votes. After his failure, Murati was the one who proposed the acting Minister of Arismi, Arbërie Nagavci, for Speaker of Parliament, who also did not receive enough votes.
Nagavci then proposed MP Dimal Basha. But Basha did not receive enough votes either.
Analyze:
On August 25, several Albanian-language online media published articles with the title "PDK votes Dimal Basha for Speaker of the Parliament", emphasizing that this statement was made by the MP and general secretary of the PDK, Vlora Çitaku.
After verification, it turns out that this statement was not given by Çitaku.
In her interview for "VOX Kosova", Çitaku said that PDK requested a pause not because they had a vote against or because they would reject such a proposal, but to make sure that LVV was serious about Dimal Basha's candidacy. At no point did she say that PDK would vote for him for Speaker of the Assembly.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article as "Clickbait" and "Disinformation".
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.
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.