Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 01/09/2022
The media that spread disinformation pose a great threat to societies that are deeply divided. Most often, disinformation are found in headlines, which often convey an arbitrary conclusion of the author or editors, which has no backing elsewhere in the article. Such an example is found on the IN4S portal, which published the following headline with reference to the US State Department:
US-style “democracy”: All but Serbs (DF) are welcome in the new government
Further down in the article, the IN4S portal cites the statement that a State Department spokesperson gave in an interview with the Voice of America, regarding the no-confidence vote to the government led by Dritan Abazovic. It is emphasized that the United States expects Montenegro to comply with legal procedures and quickly form a new government at the service of the country or else call for snap parliamentary elections.
One of the questions by the Voice of America was whether the United States would support the participation of the Democratic Front (DF) in the new government.
“The US does not consider DF as a partner, because they does not support European values, including a critical attitude towards Russian aggression against Ukraine, and have not shown leadership or willingness to achieve progress in the key reforms needed for EU accession,” an unnamed State Department spokesperson has said.
This clearly indicates that the IN4S headline does not correspond to the statement coming from the State Department. They said that the Democratic Front MPs do not have the support of the United States for reasons clearly indicated, which certainly cannot serve to draw the conclusion contained in the headline. The Democratic Front is one of the pro-Serbian political coalitions in Montenegro and does not represent all Serbs living in Montenegro.
For all of the above, the IN4S article is flagged as disinformation and clickbait.
The “disinformation” label is assigned to media reports containing a “mix” of facts and inaccurate or semi-true content. In such cases, the media may not necessarily be aware of incorrect information being published alongside the truthful ones. Reports containing false attributions or misleading titles are also labelled as disinformation.
The “clickbait” label is assigned to a media report whose title has no backing in the very contents of the article. Such articles and features aim to capture the attention of their readers with a sensational headline, promising content that is not really there and are mostly created for financial interest, i.e. to increase readership.