Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 21/03/2022
In the sea of disinformation shared on websites, it is often difficult to determine whether something is informative news, a report or simply someone’s opinion and comment. In some texts, the names of those mentioned are not even included, which shows that the journalistic forms and rules have been forgotten. A text about the visit of the representative of the Ukrainian embassy to the Municipality of Zabljak, was published on the website and a Facebook page Borba (the Fight). The text features the following title:
A SCANDAL: Ukrainian embassy racketeers in Montenegro; Mayor of Zabljak promised financial aid to Ukraine!
The text points out that the move of the mayor Veselin Vukcevic, who offered help to Ukrainian citizens, is scandalous because they took into account that, as it is stated, Zabljak is a city with few inhabitants who primarily live on tourism.
“We hope that the citizens of Zabljak will put an end to this scandalous move, because it is incomprehensible that a small town that needs to develop and prosper, provides financial assistance to Ukraine in these times when the existence of every Montenegrin is endangered”.
Where is Borba, and where is the truth?
The president of the municipality of Zabljak, Veselin Vukicevic, met with the Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Ukraine, Natalia Fialko, and the associates. At the meeting, an assistance was agreed to the displaced people from Ukraine, where the war had been going on since February 24. The statement submitted by the municipality to the Raskrinkavanje.me editorial office says the following:
“In order to help the displaced from Ukraine, the Municipality of Zabljak planned to provide support to these people of only a few thousand euros, which amount cannot significantly affect the bad or better living conditions of the citizens of Zabljak. So, the statements regarding this financial aid are more than ridiculous… The municipality of Zabljak will consider, certainly with the confirmation of the local parliament, the exemption from paying the sojourn tax for displaced people from Ukraine, which per person, on a daily basis, is 0.80 euros in private and one euro in hotel accommodation”.
It is added that the Municipality of Zabljak does not have a national kitchen or accommodation for the reception of displaced people, and that this is the only way to help the citizens of Ukraine who are outside their homes in wartime circumstances.
The meeting was held at the Embassy of Ukraine in Podgorica, whose Charge d’Affaires, according to Borba, is racketeering in Montenegro. This term, by definition, refers to a type of organized crime that consists of charging various fines to people in a place controlled by the mafia. Individuals or companies must pay for “protection” or give money to a criminal organization in exchange for unhindered economic activity and physical security.
We remind you that Russia attacked Ukraine more than 20 days ago, during which, according to UN data, 726 civilians were killed by March 15, of which 52 were children, while 1,174 people were injured. So far, more than 3.1 million Ukrainians have left the country, while an additional 2 million are internally displaced.
Keeping in mind those numbers and the horror that hit this country in the 21st century, as well as the announcement of the municipality of Zabljak, the publication of the website Borba reveives the following ratings: “disinformation”, “manipulation of facts”, and “biased reporting”.
The rating “disinformation” is given to a media report that contains a “mixture” of facts and inaccurate or semi-true content. In such cases, the media does not need to be necessarily aware of the inaccurate information published along with the truth. Also, this assessment is given to reports that have false attributions or titles that do not reflect the text in terms of the accuracy of information.
The “manipulation of facts” rating is given to a media report that uses known and accurate facts but interprets them in a misleading way. These reports generally use accurate information to draw inaccurate conclusions or claims, thus misleading media content consumers in relation to the actual meaning of the facts presented.
“Biased reporting” is given to a media report that favors facts, attitudes and conclusions that correspond to a particular narrative, often disregarding the rule of contacting the other party when making claims detrimental to one’s reputation or portrayed by certain actors in a negative light. One of the forms of biased reporting is the selective presentation of facts, where facts that support a particular thesis are emphasized, while facts that do not confirm it tend to be omitted.
A very emotional way of writing mostly accompanies such media reports. They may or may not be inaccurate, but as a rule, they do not show the whole picture and both sides of the story but only represent those facts that correspond to the preferred narrative.