The information portal "Ntv Televizione" published an image on Facebook yesterday (February 14), with the portrait of US Assistant Secretary of State, James O'Brien.
The caption that was added to the photo of Assistant Secretary O'Brien claims that he stated that the US, "We do not consider the Kosovo government as a partner.".
After verification by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that O'Brien's statement as such was not published in full.
Link to the image published by "Ntv Televizione" on Facebook:
Attached to this post is a link to the article published by this site's portal, "ntv.al" (see here).
From the title and content of this article, hibrid.info has found that the statement by US Assistant Secretary of State, James O'Brien, is not presented in full in the image published on Facebook.
The title and part of the content of this article:
The US is wild with Albin Kurti: If he doesn't treat us as a partner, we can't consider this government as a partner
US Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien says the United States is very concerned with the Kosovo government's decision not to allow the use of the dinar.
In an interview with Voice of America Albanian Service Chief Arben Xhixho, Mr. O'Brien said that with this stance, the Kosovo government has called into question the partnership with the United States. "I don't make vague threats in public. I would say that if we are not treated as a partner, we will not treat the Kosovo government as a partner."
Failure to fully publish the statement and present it in the present tense (here), in this case implies that the US is not treating the Government of Kosovo as a partner.
Hibrid.info has researched even deeper and found O'Brien's full statement published in other media (see here, here and here).
Analyze:
It has been claimed that US Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien has stated that the US does not consider the Government of Kosovo as a partner.
However, after verification by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that O'Brien's statement was not presented in full and its context was changed.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Manipulation of facts".
Reasoning:
“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.