Tag: disinformation

Global Voices published an English version of a story of Istinomer (Truth-O-Meter), a fact-checking initiative of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), , which meta.mk republishes as part of a content-sharing agreement. The developments involving the arrest and release of journalist Ana Lalić for “spreading panic and inciting unrest” after she reported on the lack of protection equipment at a hospital in...

As the world is struggling to deal with one of the most far-reaching crisis in decades, and many aspects of regular life have been compromised around the globe, a certain group of people have been sharpening their swords, so to speak. Or typing more on their computers, while the crisis unfolds. COVID-19, a shortened denomination of 'coronavirus disease 2019', triggered...

Since the humankind’s first moment of awareness of its existence, it has been prone to abusing the communications for spreading gossip and, inevitably, lies. The renowned Israeli author and history professor Yuval Noah Harari argues in his book Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind that gossip is the foundation of our species' survival and stands as one of the main...

Jamajka recognized the independence of Kosovo - the news that yesterday echoed throughout the media in Kosovo and the region, just a few hours later proved as incorrect. The media almost identically broadcasted the news, quoting the announcement found on the Twitter-profile of the Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, announcement followed by notifications from the highest Kosovo officials. It took nine...

Η Τζαμάικα αναγνώρισε την ανεξαρτησία του Κοσόβου – είδηση η οποία χθες επαναλήφθηκε πολλές φορές από τα μέσα μαζικής ενημέρωσης του Κοσόβου, αλλά και της ευρύτερης περιοχής και μόνο μερικές ώρες αργότερα αποδείχθηκε ότι είναι αναληθής. Τα μέσα ενημέρωσης μετέφεραν την είδηση αυτή σχεδόν με τον ίδιο τρόπο, επικαλούμενα ανακοίνωση στο Twiter προφίλ του Κοσοβάρου Προέδρου Χάσιμ Τάτσι, ακολουθούμενη...

At the height of disinformation dissemination, journalists in Kosovo argue that reporting challenges throughout the region have increased immensely. The professionals argue that the media outlets who do not have physical presence throughout the Balkans should pay extra care to filtering the information they republish but should also be very cautious which media outlets' content they republish. The multiple award winning...

An opinion poll conducted by the Institute for European Affairs in September 2019 shows that 23 percent of Serbian citizens believe Russia is Serbia's largest aid donor. In reality, Russia hasn't made the top 10 of Serbia's largest donors since 2000, according to the data by the Ministry of European Integration. The EU tops the list with 2.96 billion euros in aid, followed...

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) from the United States released a new working paper titled “Demand for Deceit: How the Way We Think Drives Disinformation,” authored by Samuel Woolley and Katie Joseff. The paper focuses on the demand for disinformation and raises the question of why there are such news consumers who are constantly seeking and trusting disinformation sources while rejecting other information sources. What...

The fact-checking service Faktograf has reported on October 31 that the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts of the Republic of Croatia has given around 14.5 thousand dollars in subsidies from EU structural funds to the portal Dnevno.hr, “one of the leading producers of disinformation in  the Croatian media space.”  The money from the European fund for Regional Development  was granted for  redesign of their website...

RTL Croatia's journalist, Damira Gregoret, whose specialty is politics, is a reporter, news anchor and hosts political shows. Not long ago the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic, apologized to her for saying "You are so sweet Damira" instead of replying to her question he didn't like. What followed was a public apology to Gregoret. We talked with her about...

Robert Boteri, the Creative director of the Mladina magazine in Slovenia, has been for decades a part of this cult magazine, which in former Yugoslavia was renowned for its avant-garde content, most often with controversial subjects. In April this year, there was a diplomatic incident when Mladina published a front cover with a caricature of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor...

Dr. Rumena Filipova is DPhil and MPhil in International Relations, University of Oxford, having completed her undergraduate studies at the university of Cambridge. She taught undergraduate courses at Oxford University, and she has been a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, the Polish Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House and other international institutes and think-tanks. Dr. Filipova is now...

The day before yesterday, with only one article published by a news site in North Macedonia, several rules of journalism were violated and at the same this incident confirmed that in the digital era it is very easy to spread disinformation, regardless of the fact that all tools for checking the facts are at our disposal, i.e. for ascertaining...

Ms Asya Metodieva is a PhD Candidate at Central European University (CEU), Budapest researching radical movements, with a focus on foreign fighter recruitment. Her policy paper “Russian Narrative Proxies in the Western Balkans”, which was recently published by the German Marshal Fund (GMF), explores the growth of anti-West/pro-Russia narratives in the Western Balkans by looking at the role of...

Theodoros Daniilidis is the founder, and Thanos Sitistas is the editor of “Ellinika Hoaxes”, the most famous website in Greece that debunks disinformation and fake news. It has been doing that in the past six years, since 2013. In the interview for “Meta.mk”, Daniilidis and Sitistas say that the Greeks are pretty prone to believe fake news, but also...

Nenad Shebek is an international consultant for media and civil society. Previously he was director of the Belgrade office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and before that, spokesperson of Regional Cooperation Council. He served as Executive director of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe 2002-2014. Prior to that, he had worked as journalist for 26 years,...

Ivan Georgiev is reporter and anchor of bTV, one of Bulgaria’s main TV stations. He has covered some of the leading international and regional events in the past few years,  Macedonia included to a large extent. Ivan is author of numerous short documentaries. In 2012 he was awarded with the World Press Institute Fellowship. He is also holder of several...

The problems of disinformation and the steps to fight it was the topic of the workshop that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Thessaloniki, with the participation of 35 journalists, experts and NGO staff from North Macedonia and Greece. The workshop was co-hosted by the US Embassies in Greece and North Macedonia, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC),...

Eraldin Fazliu the editor in chief of “Pristina Insight”, in an interview for Portalb.mk, says that the most common disinformation comes from the politicians in Kosovo. He points out that one of the main problems of Kosovo is disinformation with visual elements. Such as old photographs and pictures received from other places, that are with an expired date, wrong...

With the presidential elections in the Republic of North Macedonia fast approaching, the election campaign intensifies, as the scope of the disinformation promulgated in the public, formed into the so called “fake news”, increases. The term “fake news” is widely used nowadays, mostly to delegitimize news that is completely accurate, but disliked by the person classifying them as fake. Here,...