Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
An article titled, "Bread – 80 cents, follows the rise in electricity prices" has been published.
content was published today (April 17) by a medium called "mediafokus.net".
What's wrong with the news headline?
In this headline, the price of bread, 80 cents, is presented as a fait accompli, while its content shows that we are only dealing with a possible warning from an individual and not with an official decision.
The headline of the news refers to the increase in the price of electricity when it is stated that, "The 16.1% increase in the price of electricity has alarmed Kosovo businessmen, especially manufacturers.".
The following paragraph warns of the increase in the price of bread, following the increase in the price of electricity, when it is stated that, "The first product expected to see a price increase is bread.".
In the same paragraph it is indicated that this warning is based on the statement of a businessman, when it is indicated that, "The owner of a flour factory in Kosovo, Rexhep Rama, says that after the price of electricity increases by 16.1%, the price of flour and consequently that of bread will automatically increase.".
Rexhep Rama's statement extracted from the article:
"The price of electricity has increased, it has increased a lot. We will have a problem, we have had a bad price, now after this increase we will risk closing the factories completely because we cannot afford it. Meanwhile, the increase will definitely affect us because with this price we will not be able to work. We increase the price of flour for bakers. We cannot work with this current price, because in Gjilan a loaf of bread is 60 cents, while now after the increase it goes up to 70/80 cents. A kilogram of flour is 34 cents, now it must become 40 cents because we cannot cover ourselves"
The first article containing this statement by Rama was published by the medium "rtv21.tv". The news was titled, ""After the increase in energy prices, the price of a loaf of bread is expected to go up to 80 cents." (see here).
What does it mean that the headline of the news from "mediafokus.net" does not indicate that we are dealing with a warning about a price increase. So, there is no clarification that this is a warning and not a formalized decision.
Hibrid.info has researched through the search engine, "Google", with the keywords, "the price of bread is rising", specifying the time period for the last week's content.
The results showed articles with headlines warning of a bread price increase, but no official announcement of the announced price was reported (see here).
Hibrid.info also found that the price of bread is determined by the Association of Bakers in Kosovo, but did not come across an online communication channel of this business group, where they could be informed in the event of any official decision (see here).
The current price of bread in Kosovo ranges from 50-60 cents (see here).
Analyze:
The headline "Bread - 80 cents, follows the rise in electricity prices" presents the price of bread as a fait accompli, while the content of the article speaks of a WARNING! potential growth, given by a individual statement of a businessman.
So, context and official source are missing, making this a misleading title.
Therefore, based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates it 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.