Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 25/07/2022
It has been proven countless times that we should not trust information that might seem authentic, credible, and true “at first glance. As users of social media, we often get targeted by disinformers who use different photoshopping techniques in an attempt to deceive us and “drag” us into the cycle of the viral spread of inaccurate, misleading or false contents.
This was exactly the intention behind a post made by a Facebook user, who inserted a description that reads:
“Is this possible, and right here in our own country? If the authorities do not arrest these jerks, we’re doomed!” under a photo he shared, which shows a building claimed to be a secondary school in Novi Pazar, allegedly named after Naser Oric. We tracked down this photo, with a slightly different description, here and here, and noticed that the last one was actually published several years ago.
Although it is not easy to tell from the photo posted (the font type and colour are identical, the outlines of the original name were overwritten, the resolution was downsized…), it is in fact a photoshopped image.
This was confirmed through a Google reverse image search that helped us find the original photo. As it turns out, this is indeed a high school in Novi Pazar, but it does not bear the name “Naser Oric”.
It is an image of High School of Economics and Medicine “Hipokrat” in Novi Pazar, a private school founded in 2013, as stated on their website.
http://www.skolahipokrat.edu.rs/o-skoli/
As it turns out, the photo that has been circulating social media for years had the original name on the school signboard edited out and replaced by the name of Naser Oric.
Our colleagues from the Raskrinkavanje.ba portal found that the photoshopped image was first published on April 12, 2016, when it was shared on Facebook page of BiH News. The very same month, it appeared on the Instagram profile of naser.oric.
We expanded the Google search so as to include other schools in Novi Pazar (primary and secondary), and none of them came up as carrying the name of Naser Oric.
Naser Oric is a former commander of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces in the territory of Srebrenica during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was handed a first-instance verdict and found guilty of war crimes against Serbs and other non-Bosniaks, but was later acquitted of all charges in appeals hearing.
Based on the information available, and the fact that the image was photoshopped, this content was flagged as fake news.
The “Fake News” label is assigned to an original media report (entirely produced by the media that originally published it) that contains factually incorrect claims or information. The contents labeled as fake news are those identified with full certainty as having been created and disseminated with the intention of disinforming the public and presenting an otherwise completely false claim as a fact.