Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 06/04/2023
News from the Crime and Courts column is almost always at the very top of the most read and viewed content published in the media. If such announcements are permeated with some other elements, their reach is even greater, and a good echo in the public is guaranteed.
“The Italian journalist who investigated the influence of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro most likely murdered”, reads the title of the article published by the Voice of Montenegro portal and shared on Facebook, from where it was shared by some other users of this social network.
The original title of the article read: “The Italian journalist who investigated the influence of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro murdered”, which can be proven by taking a look at a post on Facebook.
In the article that is currently available on the website, there is no information about the fact that the title was changed, that is, the words “most likely” were added or an explanation as to why this was done.
The article states that the Italian journalist Stefania Elena Carnemolla spent the last period of her professional engagement in Podgorica. Despite the claims in the title that she investigated “the influence of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro”, there is not even a word about it in the text itself.
The Voice of Montenegro article published on February 23 contains, as they state, an “interesting text” (translated from Italian) written by the editor of the newspaper for which said journalist worked.
First of all, the article referred to by Voice of Montenegro was published in June last year, a few days after the news of the journalist’s death. It is not stated that the journalist was killed or that she was investigating “the influence of the Church of Serbia in Montenegro”.
The portal for which the Italian journalist worked published two articles about Montenegro – in 2015 and 2019. The articles describe the natural beauty of Montenegro.
Police Directorate: The traces found do not indicate that the journalist’s death was a violent one
On the occasion of the mentioned media announcement, Raskrinkavanje contacted the Police Directorate, which informed us that the Podgorica Security Department, on May 24, 2022, at around 8:25 p.m., was informed by a citizen that S.C., a citizen of the Republic of Italy, had been found without signs of life in a house on Miloja Pavlovica Street, where she had lived for the previous four years.
“After receiving the notification, police officers arrived at the scene, together with the state prosecutor from the Higher State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, who was in charge of the investigation. On the order of the prosecutor, the coroner officer came to the scene and, on that occasion, stated that there were no visible traces of violence on the body of the deceased. The doctor on duty at the Institute for Emergency Medical Aid confirmed the death of SC on the spot”, Police Directorate said to Raskrinkavanje.
During the investigation, they announced that no traces of looting or other traces were found that would indicate that the death was caused by violence. SC’s personal belongings and objects she used were found and removed from the death scene. The competent state prosecutor ordered a forensic-medical autopsy.
“Regarding the connection between SC’s death and her journalistic work, we inform you that during the measures and actions taken, the police did not come across any data that would indicate any doubts in this regard,” the police added.
Some Italian media reported on the death of the journalist (here, here, here…) However, the media reports there do not mention the cause of the death of the journalist.
The information about the death of the Italian citizen and journalist was not published in the Montenegrin media. The only thing that can be found is the appeal of the Montenegrin Movement to the Embassy of Italy in Podgorica “to request their country to get involved and demand from the Montenegrin authorities a professional investigation regarding the death of its citizen journalist Stefania Elena Carnemolla, whose life was tragically ended, under unexplained circumstances”.
How the Voice of Montenegro portal came to this conclusion, almost a year after her death, that the journalist was murdered – remains unclear. The same web portal fails to provide substantial claims about the murder in the text and says nothing about her investigation of the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro. Because of all of the above, this content is rated disinformation.
A media report that contains a “mix” of facts and inaccurate or half-true content is rated “Disinformation”. In such cases, the media may not necessarily be aware of incorrect information being published alongside the truth. Also, reports that have false attributions or titles that do not reflect the text in terms of information accuracy will be treated with this rating.