Several Facebook pages have published a photo of journalist Berat Buzhala, who is allegedly photographed riding in a car with Belgrade license plates.
After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has confirmed that the photo is staged, and that Buzhala was photographed riding in a car with Kosovo license plates, more precisely from the Mitrovica region (02). (see here)
Link to the article published on Facebook by the pages "Thënie nga Albin Kurti" and "Krejt Shqiptare":
After researching through the automated online program "InVID", hibrid.info found that this edited photo was published in a satirical Facebook group called "Kosovo Information Service - BBK NEWS".
In the (about) section of this group writes "The group is just for laughs. Anyone who doesn't understand humor is not welcome." (see here)
Hibrid.info has managed to find the authentic photograph published on the website “TheFrontliner.uk”, in an article, whose author is Vudi Xhymshiti. (see here)
In this photograph taken by Vudi Xhymshiti, it can be seen that the car does not have Belgrade license plates, but the same one has Kosovo plates. (see photo below)
Buzhala himself has reacted to the distribution of this edited photo, who posted the real photo and the edited one on his Facebook account, calling it a "falsification of the signs." (see here)
Analyze:
Several Facebook pages have published a doctored photo, which was posted in a satirical Facebook group.
It seems that these pages have taken this photo for granted. Based on its working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates these posts as "Satire" and "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
The “Satire” rating includes content that uses premeditated news that uses satire to portray reality. This is also a way of reporting that is not problematic, if the media manages to argue that it is satirical content.
The purpose of including this assessment in the methodology is to indicate this type of content in situations where it can be claimed to be a genuine media report and when it becomes potentially harmful in the event of further transmission without being able to clearly explain that it is a satirical text. So in such cases, if a text fails to clarify that it has satirical content, it may be understood as genuine and, as a result, may create a wrong opinion in the audience. However, the media that publishes this type of content cannot be on one of the negative lists solely because of the publication of this type of content.
A “Disinformation” rating is given to media reporting that contains a “mix” of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful content. This rating will also address reports that have incorrect attributions or headlines that do not reflect the text in terms of information accuracy.