The "ABC" television portal in Albania, "ABCnews.al" has published today (December 22) an article titled "The coldest winter in decades is approaching."
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of this article is a generalization, which does not clarify which country is being referred to.
This is only clarified in the content, where it is announced that in the United States of America, this week could bring the coldest Christmas in the last four decades.
This article by "Abcnews.al", with the same title, has also been published by several information portals in Kosovo.
By not providing clarification in the title as to which country is being referred to, this may misinform readers into thinking that the coldest winter in recent decades is related to Albania and Kosovo.
Excerpt from the article published on the portal "Abcnews.al"
The coldest winter in decades is approaching
A major winter storm sweeping across the US this week could bring the coldest Christmas in four decades to some parts of the country, according to forecasters, writes the BBC.
More than 90 million people are expected to be affected by the cold in 37 states. About 80% of the country is expected to experience sub-zero temperatures, including places as far south as Texas.
Link to the article published on the "Abcnews.al" portal:
https://abcnews.al/dimri-me-i-ftohte-i-dekadave-te-fundit-po-afron/
After research conducted through online search engines and social media, hibrid.info found the same article published by several portals in Kosovo, which cited the online medium "Abcnews.al". (see here, here and here)
Hibrid.info has found the authentic article published in the "BBC" titled "Winter storm in the US will bring the coldest Christmas in decades". (see here)
Based on the fact that this article was distributed by an online medium in Albania and several others in Kosovo, hibrid.info has verified how the weather is forecasted in several cities in these two countries.
On the BBC weather forecast website "BBC Weather", in cities such as Tirana, Vlora, Pristina and Prizren.
The weather for the coming days (until January 4) is expected to have temperatures up to 14 degrees Celsius for cities like Pristina and Prizren, while up to 19 for Tirana and Vlora in Albania. (see here, here, here and here)
Analyze:
The "Abcnews.al" portal has published an article regarding the weather forecast in the US, stating that the winter storm will bring the coldest Christmas in decades.
However, the title of this article does not clarify which country it is referring to.
The same article with a general title was also distributed on online portals in Kosovo.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates this article as "Clickbait".
Reasoning:
The “Clickbait” rating is given to texts whose titles have no basis in the content of the following text. Such texts and articles aim to attract the attention of the reader or even the consumer with a sensational title by promising content that does not actually exist and are created mainly out of financial interest, that is, due to increased readability. So, this type of text is intended only to click, which can be converted into a profit for the content producer.