The experts are clear: Existence of plan for monitoring COVID-19 vaccine’s side effects doesn’t mean it is unsafe
The US Food and Drugs Administration published a list of medical conditions that will be monitored during the vaccination process with the anti-COVID-19 vaccine, and not a list of the side effect that have already happened, reacted the medical experts in North Macedonia when...
Epidemy of Lies in the Balkans – online panel discussion organized by Istinomer on December 14
On the occasion of its 11th birthday, the first fact-checking media outlet in the Balkans region Istinomer will organize the online panel discussion “Epidemy of Lies on the Balkans” which will be held on Monday, December 14, 2020 at 16:00 CET on Zoom.
Istinomer, based...
Global Voices with virtual conversation “Belarus 2020: Still Uploading?”
Global Voices starts a GV Insights series of virtual conversations on burning issues, starting on the 14th of December at 3pm UTC/GMT with the first event “Belarus 2020: Still Uploading?”—a lively discussion on the 2020 Belarusian revolution with experts from Belarus and the region...
International Human Rights Day and their importance in building the post-Covid-19 world
Today is 10 December, the International Human Rights Day. On this day in 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global document to articulate human rights and bring them to the forefront globally, as...
Hate speech and harrasment campaign against Metamorphosis staff continues with impunity: “Should we shoot them or bring funeral wreaths to their homes?”
"Here is the cancer of the society," "slowly we are completing the list, information is arriving from all sides and we already have their home addresses," "poor bastards, they don't know they will be erased too, and very quickly," "should we shoot them or...
E-Society: Journalists lost the trust of the general public, which leaves room for the disinformation
Journalism is at the crossroads today, with the mounting risk of being forced to withdraw from the place called "The Noise" and where it can't think. These are places where the journalists can be manipulated to spread fake news, places that were created to...
Truthmeter: The coronavirus is a virus, not a bacteria!
A manipulation about the coronavirus and the COVID-19 was made with the publication of a Facebook post written in Macedonian, with claims that the real culprit is not a virus, but a bacteria, but also that the disease can be treated with Aspirin only,...
The claim that Metamorphosis employees delete content from Facebook is defamation
On 12 November 2020, a text entitled “(PHOTO) These are the people who delete content from Facebook in Macedonia!” was published on the website www.lider.com.mk, which lists several false claims that can be characterized as defamation.
Among other things, the controversial article contains a collage...
Keith Brown: Critical thinking demands recognition of one’s own blinkers, prejudices and areas of ignorance
“Balkan history has been shaped by the territorial ambitions and disputes of the last century, and so has become a zero-sum game; it also has quasi-religious aspects, insofar as current debates reveal an implicit concern with purity and pollution underlying accusations around loyalty and...
Macedonian magazine that published study about existence of a black hole in the middle of the Earth is no longer part of PubMed Central
The Macedonian science magazine "Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences“ (OAMJMS) is no longer part of the free archive of magazines for biomedical and life sciences at the PubMed Central® – U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM), as was...
Facebook to include Holocaust denial in its definition of banned hate speech
Facebook is changing its internal rules by including Holocaust denial in its definition of hate speech, after suffering criticism for not doing enough to tackle this form of toxic disinformation.
Monika Bickert, VP of Content Policy published a blog post on October 12 announcing that...
Next year Skopje will host the biggest NATO conference for public relations and fighting disinformation
Around 500 communications experts from all NATO member countries will participate in the biggest allies conference for public relations that next year should take place in Skopje, announced the Defense Minister Radmila Shekerinska - Jankovska yesterday.
"The plans for NATO's communications with the general public,...
Will a new US TV series on the ‘Macedonian teens who helped elect Trump’ perpetuate a tired cliché?
The so-called “Macedonian teenagers” who set up networks of fake news sites in the lead-up to the 2016 United States election continue to turn a profit — not so much for themselves anymore, but for producers looking to capitalize on the exaggerated trope, Global...
Disinformation about Russian army entering the Belarus in order to quell the demonstrations
When the social networks and the chat services were flooded with videos containing military transporters and buses full of soldiers, claiming this is the Russian army that has either entered Belarus or "are about to enter" Belarus, the fact-checkers from Belarus have quickly debunked...
Bulgarian Jews: Dubbing people “Sorosoids” both by Karakachanov and anyone else equals sheer Antisemitism
The Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom” castigated Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Krassimir Karakachanov’s comment that “NGOs in Bulgaria backed by George Soros want to overtake the power in order to introduce gay marriage” and called this kind of...
Facebook in partnership with Metamorphosis Foundation and Truthmeter launches a fact-checking program in North Macedonia
Today, Facebook announced that together with the Metamorphosis Foundation and Truthmeter, will launch a third-party fact-checking program in North Macedonia. Besides our country, Facebook is launching this program in other countries in the region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, while the existing program...
Media manipulation during electoral silence with a shady video clip that cost Macedonian taxpayers 1.1 million euros
A video clip paid from the Republic of North Macedonia state budget in 2016, through a shady deal which is currently investigated for corruption, has been used to mobilize ethnic Macedonian voters via Facebook ads during the electoral silence between July 13 and 15,...
Ellinika Hoaxes: The “announcements” for mass vaccination against COVID-19 in August are false
As part of its fight against the disinformation and false news that easily cross the borders in the Balkans region and very soon appear in another country or in another language, Meta.mk is regularly transmitting the current topics from the kin services for fact-checking...
Truthmeter.mk: The signs that Moscow is interfering in North Macedonia’s elections are no joke
The release of an old audio conversation between “Greta Thunberg” and the former Prime Miinister, as well as the top candidate for the next PM from the ruling party, Zoran Zaev at this moment has nothing to do with alleged pranks, but with the...
Regional analysis of the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on Western Balkans media
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes
in the way the the journalists and the media in general work. Still, depending on the context of each country separately, it can be noticed that the pandemic has a different influence on journalism. This regional analysis is...
