{"id":1347,"date":"2021-11-11T09:32:30","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T08:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2024-06-20T21:35:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T20:35:35","slug":"when-a-lie-subsequently-becomes-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2021\/11\/11\/when-a-lie-subsequently-becomes-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"When a lie subsequently becomes the truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Original article<\/a> was published on 11\/12\/2020<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

During the past three days, we devoted our attention to finding additional research on the story regarding Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement in order to determine if we were really wrong when we rated it as a fabrication made by the website \u017divotni stil.<\/em> Spoiler alert: We were not wrong. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For several days now, Raskrinkavanje <\/em>has been flooded with angry messages and comments from readers claiming that our analysis \u201cFootball, Srebrenica and the fake media: Using genocide as a tool to gain more clicks<\/a>\u201d, which we published on July 12, 2018, was \u2013 fake news. The claims from analysis became \u201ccontroversial\u201d after Ve\u010dernji List,<\/em> on July 13, 2018, published interviews with Croatian national team, including one with Suba\u0161i\u0107, which was interpreted by numerous media outlets as confirmation that Suba\u0161i\u0107 made a statement that we found to be fabricated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, we dedicated the last three days to determine if we really made a mistake in naming the website \u017divotni stil <\/em>as the source of the controversial statement, which in the same period also produced a couple of similar statements by Zdravko Mami\u0107 and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin with, we approached the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) with a query on whether Suba\u0161i\u0107 made a statement attributed to him on July 7, 2018. Despite our numerous attempts, we have not received any response. Since the final match of the World Cup took place on Sunday, and the official reception of the Croatian national team that won silver at the World Championship took place the following day, we decided to repeat our inquiries. The only response we received was from an HNS\u2019 information officer, who said the inquiry was \u201cin protocol\u201d. After that, no one answered our calls. Furthermore, our attempt to get a comment from Dra\u017een Ladi\u0107, Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s coach, was also unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE:<\/strong><\/p>

Afterwards, we received a response from the Croatian Football Federation, denying that Luka Modri\u0107 and Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107 stated that they\u2019re dedicating the match to the mothers of Srebrenica on July 11. <\/p>

Here is the complete response we received:<\/p>

\u201cHello, thank you for your inquiry. We do not know which exact press conference you were thinking of, because neither of the conferences included Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107 and Luka Modri\u0107 as speakers. In fact, neither of them attended the official press conference held before the game. Therefore, Luka and Danijel never made such a statement.<\/p>

Best regards, Tomislav<\/p>(Note added on July 7, 2018, at 9:30 am)<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Office of Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107 informed us on Monday that everyone is \u201cin chaos\u201d because of the World Cup and that they would respond in a day or two, which they did:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Mr. Zulejhi\u0107,
The Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia does not have an audio or video recording, nor is it known that on July 11, 2018, President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107 made a statement to the media that the football match between Croatia and England would be \u2018played for Srebrenica and Bosniaks\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia, the HNS still has not found the time to answer an identical, very simple question. Also, Ve\u010dernji List,<\/em> which \u201cconfirmed\u201d the existence of Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement, did not respond to any of the queries we sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, we spoke with a couple of sports journalists from BiH and Croatia, some of whom reported directly from the World Cup in Russia. Not one of them could confirm to us that he had heard from a colleague that Suba\u0161i\u0107 had made such a statement. And every one of them considered this claim as incorrect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither of these journalists wanted to make an official comment because, as they stated, they do not want to do it solely on the basis of personal impressions and without verified information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Igor \u0160timac, however, was less reserved. When asked to refer us to the source of the statement he attributed to Suba\u0161i\u0107 on a TV show Pressing, he said that it had been \u201cpublished by the Croatian media\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked him which media was the source of that statement, and this is the answer we received:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, everyone, just type Suba\u0161i\u0107 and Srebrenica and you\u2019ll find it, I don\u2019t know why you\u2019re calling me for that.    <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The reason why we asked \u0160timac this question lies in the fact that he was the one to \u201cput these words in Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s mouth\u201d in an interview published on July 13, 2018. By that time, the truthfulness of the statement had already been seriously questioned. \u0160timac could hardly have been unaware that this statement has been called into question and debated for the past two days. Therefore, it would be logical that his claim \u201cYou dedicated your last game to the mothers of Srebrenica\u201d was based on something more solid than \u201cgoogling\u201d the terms \u201cSuba\u0161i\u0107\u201d and \u201cSrebrenica\u201d. Also, he should have checked it with his interlocutor before bringing him in front of the cameras, and leaving him with two options only: to openly deny or to silently confirm the statement. But \u0160timac did not do any of this. Instead, he cited vague \u201cCroatian media\u201d as the source of the claim which he later made \u201ctrue\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the \u201cCroatian media\u201d was not the source of the statement that \u0160timac attributed to Suba\u0161i\u0107 while interviewing him. Nor was it one of the journalists who followed every step of the Croatian national team in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, \u201cthe statement\u201d was first published by an anonymous website \u017divotni stil<\/em>, and this is confirmed by additional research we have carried out in the meantime. Although this site does not show the exact time when the articles were published, the search we did via FotoForensics revealed that the article was published on July 11, 2018, at 08:50 am. An older posting of this particular collage photo<\/a>, which flooded social media with a quote from the aforementioned statement, does not exist online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The website \u017divotni stil<\/em> claimed that Suba\u0161i\u0107 made this statement at a press conference of the Croatian national team, at which he did not participate at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, who is this \u201cjournalist\u201d that managed to get an exclusive statement, at nine o\u2019clock in the morning, on July 11, from a world-renowned footballer while he was preparing for one of his team\u2019s most important matches?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE:<\/strong><\/p>

\u017divotni stil <\/em>was shut down after the publication of this analysis.<\/p>(Note added on July 19, 2018, at 9:30 am)<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter, man\u2026why are you asking me for my name and surname? I am asking you nicely, what is the problem, why are you texting me\u2026?\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u017divotni stil<\/em><\/a> is one of the hundreds of websites whose owners are producing fake news with only one goal \u2013 to earn money from Google ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, neither of these pages have an Impressum, and they do not feature any information about the authors of the articles. The Whois search, however, listed Senad Beki\u0107 as the owner of this portal (\u201cSenad\u201d is also the name of the administrator\u2019s account who published all the texts regarding Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s \u201cstatements\u201d on \u017divotni stil)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beki\u0107, as he told us, owned the website until a few months ago, when he sold it to a person named Tarik Cifri\u0107. Ownership transition can be read from the website\u2019s content, which changed abruptly in March and switched from sharing regular news published in other media, to publishing fake news, mainly intended for those who want to find a job abroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarik Cifric\u2019s name was also found in the registration data <\/a>of Omiljeni portal<\/em><\/a>, a website for which we already assumed that was run by the same person. These assumptions were made by analysing its most common topics (such as inventing traffic accidents, illnesses and deaths of celebrities and posting false ads for jobs abroad, etc.) and a characteristic writing style with frequent grammar errors and poorly composed sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long story short \u2013 we were right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among several Facebook users with the same name, it was not difficult to find a Facebook profile of the owner of the above-mentioned websites. Tarik Cifra Cifri\u0107<\/a> uses his private Facebook profile to share the content of the \u017divotni stil<\/em> across various Facebook pages and groups \u2013 which is yet another way for website owners to advertise their pages and gain clicks to earn more money. On Cifri\u0107\u2019s Facebook profile there is a link to the portal Olimp info <\/em>\u2013 one of the \u201cpredecessors\u201d of the Omiljeni portal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The owner\u2019s phone number, given in the proprietary data of the Omiljeni portal<\/em>, was not in use, but we managed to find his real number. When we contacted him and explained who we were and why we\u2019re calling, Cifri\u0107 denied that he was the owner of \u017divotni stil <\/em>and any other news website. The answer to each question we asked him was just one brief \u201cno,\u201d followed with a comment that this is \u201cnot his line of work at all\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our phone and Facebook conversations with Tarik Cifri\u0107 continued over the next few hours. We also want to emphasize that, after the first call, we noticed that at least two other people who presented themselves as Tarik Cifri\u0107, were answering or calling us. These people had different diction and sounded nothing like the person who first answered our call. Therefore, we cannot be certain which of the following statements were made by Tarik Cifri\u0107 himself, and which were made by the other two people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After saying that he does not work for any media website, we asked Cifri\u0107 for an explanation on why his name appears in Whois data of these websites and why is their content shared from his private Facebook profile. After our question, the person who spoke on Cifri\u0107\u2019s behalf changed his story twice \u2013 in only two sentences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Can you then explain to us why are the links from \u017divotni stil<\/em> abundantly shared across Facebook from your private profile?
NN<\/strong>: Well, my friend, you know, I have nothing to do with it. I mean, I don\u2019t do this, I don\u2019t do websites at all. So my Facebook profile is used for sharing, hm\u2026 My cousin from America shared it, it\u2019s not my business, and I have nothing to do with it.
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Then why does your name appear as the name of the person who has registered several domains, including Omiljeni portal<\/em>, which is no longer active?
NN<\/strong>: Ah, I\u2019ve been in that business before, and I don\u2019t know where did you get the information that I am doing it now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When we said that the original owner of the website \u017divotni stil <\/em>had told us that he had sold the website to him, we got the following response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NN<\/strong>: Let me tell you something, my friend, if you do not take it down within 24 hours, you will be reported to the Press Council and then you will have to take it down. You know what happened to \u0160iranovi\u0107, that\u2019s how you\u2019re going to end up, just so you know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Aldin \u0160iranovi\u0107 is the owner of the website Koktel, who accused us of \u201cworking for the HDZ and the SDA\u201d, and also made similar accusations to the Press Council of BiH when they rejected his objection to our writings in which we published his Whois data and analyzed his articles. \u0160iranovi\u0107 repeatedly posted fake news about Raskrinkavanje; sent threatening messages from various Facebook profiles; told our web administrator he could \u201cend up in a wheelchair\u201d if we don\u2019t remove his name from our website; and published the article claiming that our web administrator is the \u201cknown drug addict\u201d with a criminal record.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation then ended. In a subsequent conversation, Cifri\u0107 (or \u201cCifri\u0107\u201d) said he previously owned \u201csome websites\u201d, but this time he said that, instead of \u201cgiving it\u201d to a relative from America, he \u201cgave them\u201d to \u201csome friends\u201d who, like his \u201ccousin,\u201d used his Facebook profile to share the links from their websites. He also added that he knows nothing about the websites. Cifri\u0107 then said that he had never heard of Raskrinkavanje,<\/em> although a few minutes earlier he had mentioned the \u201cepisode\u201d with Aldin \u0160iranovi\u0107, described above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked to explain this contradiction, he gave us an extremely unbelievable response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t me at all, it was \u0160iranovi\u0107 who answered the phone, he was nearby. We\u2019re just friends, having coffee, he was already there twice when you called me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

NOTE:<\/strong><\/p>

After the article was published, we were contacted by Tarik Cifri\u0107 and an unknown man who responded from someone else\u2019s Facebook profile and said he was the one who \u201ccame up with the idea\u201d to mention \u0160iranovi\u0107 and asked us to delete that part of the article. They both said that they do not know \u0160iranovi\u0107. In addition to this, we were also contacted by Aldin \u0160iranovi\u0107, who also asked for his name to be removed from the article because, as he claims, he doesn\u2019t know the people listed and was not present when they spoke with us. Here is the complete message that \u0160iranovi\u0107 had sent us: <\/p>

\u201cI do not know if I should address you with the word Honorable because you do not deserve it at all, so I will start with Gentlemen.<\/p>

This morning I have read an article on your web site which once again mentions my name in a connection with certain Tarik Cifri\u0107. I do not know this person and I do not have any connection with him, and we never had coffee together. I live in Austria, and I could not have that coffee with him because I was simply not there. Your lies and attempts to hide the true fact that everything you do is for money and donations are sick. This time, please remove my name from the article because I have nothing to do with that article and your quarrel with Cifri\u0107. In case you don\u2019t remove my name, because I have nothing to do with it, I will contact the US Embassy and Mrs. Cormack, who are your funders. As you have never shown any paper or permission to expose anyone or do analysis on anyone, I do not allow you to tarnish my name and write falsehoods.<\/p>

Once you have a license from CRA (Communications Regulatory Agency in BiH, [sic]) or from a government agency, it\u2019s OK, but not until then. You also posted my picture against my will and permission, which is illegal because it was taken from my profile. I stand behind the words I write on my website, as well as the journalists who write for the website also stand by their articles, but the things you do can be done by anyone. I give you 12 hours to remove my name from those writings and mentioning me in a quarrel which I have nothing to do with.<\/p>

Otherwise, I will personally call the embassy and even send a lawyer to the US Embassy, \u200b\u200bso we will resolve our issue in other ways.\u201d<\/p>

We believe it\u2019s clear from the text itself that we never presented Cifri\u0107\u2019s and his friend\u2019s claims about \u0160iranovi\u0107 as truthful. This one, like every other false claim they made in a series of conversations with us, is an integral part of our analysis as it indicates the non-credibility of the \u201cmedia source\u201d from the analysis.<\/p>

Therefore, we will not remove any of these claims from the analysis. Also, we emphasize that these are not our own conclusions or the claims we consider true, but rather sharing the allegations we received from the interlocutors.<\/p>(Note added on July 18, 2018, at 11:00 am)<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Cifri\u0107 then changed his story for the fourth time. So, from the claim that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t know anything about any website\u201d, especially regarding \u017divotni stil<\/em>, we came to Cifri\u0107\u2019s confession that he bought the website from Beki\u0107, or to be specific \u2013 bought it for his \u201ccousin from America\u201d. When he was asked for the name of the \u201crelative\u201d, Cifri\u0107 declined to respond but said he would send a screenshot proving that it was not his website. Soon, he did it. The screenshot we received contained a list of Facebook pages administered by Tarik Cifri\u0107. Most of these pages were linked to the non-active Omiljeni Portal<\/em> and other websites from the same \u201cfarm\u201d of websites, which will be discussed later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next few conversations we had with Cifri\u0107 via phone and text messages, he repeated several times that we should not use his name, as he was fair to us and answered all of our questions\u201d. He also asked for the removal of his name from our article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We explained to him that his request can\u2019t be taken into consideration as all of the published information was already public and that there is no law prohibiting us from publishing the information we had obtained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was then followed by a conversation, which is probably the most interesting in the whole series of conversations (if we exclude Aldin \u0160iranovi\u0107\u2019s sudden \u201cguest appearance\u201d in the whole story). The person who called us asked to speak with Emir Zulejhi\u0107, the editor of Raskrinkavanje<\/em>. They refused to say their name and gave the following response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NN<\/strong>: Nevermind, man, I don\u2019t know why you need this. I just want to say that I personally went to Russia and got a statement from a gentleman. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s the problem. I\u2019m just interested to find out what is the problem.
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Your first and last name, please?
NN<\/strong>: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter, man\u2026why are you asking me for my name and surname? I am asking you nicely what\u2019s the problem, why are you texting me\u2026?\u201d
I am not the real owner, I am the co-owner (of the website [sic]). The real owner will be here in a day or two. He will then call you directly and two of you will have a coffee in Sarajevo. You will talk to him soon and that is why I don\u2019t know what is the problem. So, the statement has already been made. The mistake was all yours, from now on it would be best for you to wait before publishing some things. You made a mistake, now stand by it. I don\u2019t know why you are texting, calling people, asking them about this, I don\u2019t know what is the problem?
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Can you confirm in any way that Mr. Suba\u0161i\u0107 gave you a statement and when did that exactly happen?
NN<\/strong>: Hold on, he gave it to me and I don\u2019t need to justify myself to you. Who are you? His spokesman? Or a spokesman of a Croatian National Team?
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Neither.
NN<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t want to talk about it anymore. You should give me some rest here. You were wrong, and that\u2019s it. You should not have published any of it. We proved you wrong, actually, it was Igor \u0160timac who proved you wrong.
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Won\u2019t you reveal us your name?
NN<\/strong>: Well, that\u2019s irrelevant here, buddy. I don\u2019t know why are you so determined to find out my name, it\u2019s irrelevant.
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Well, it is important. You know my name but I don\u2019t know yours, so we\u2019re not exactly equal in this situation.
NN<\/strong>: Because you\u2019ve introduced yourself to the people you called today. That\u2019s how I know your name.
Raskrinkavanje<\/em><\/strong>: Okay, thank you.
NN<\/strong>: Good, goodbye, please stop doing this. Sarajevo is not far away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An obsession with anonymity, numerous attempts to hide their identities and deny a connection with the ownership of the website, as well as reaching for threats when the \u201cdanger\u201d arises \u2013  all of these are typical features of the owners of such websites. However, it\u2019s rare that one of them who finds themselves in a situation where the published lie \u201cgrows\u201d so much that in its subsequent \u201cconversion to the truth\u201d, receives unexpected support from a legitimate media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, after the interview published in Ve\u010dernji list<\/em>, the website \u017divotni stil <\/em>rushed to reinforce such \u201cconfirmation\u201d with another false news. Although they could\u2019ve gone by only publishing the \u201cgeneric\u201d article, they used this opportunity to publish it with a headline containing a new fictional statement by Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107: I PLAYED FOR THE MOTHERS OF SREBRENICA: I told this information only to \u201c\u017divotni stil\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

t is probably unnecessary to point out that the statement made in the headline is nonsense and that Suba\u0161i\u0107 did not mention anything similar in his interview. This is clear from the article itself and also from the footage attached to it. What\u2019s even more ironic is the fact that \u017divotni stil <\/em>revealed that Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement was given at a press conference, and not that he gave it to the website itself. This was stated in their first article  So let\u2019s recall, once again, how did the original news about Daniel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement looked like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The invented story about Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107 was certainly very profitable for Cifri\u0107 and his website. In fact, this appears to have been a \u201chit\u201d they never experienced before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heartwarming statement Suba\u0161i\u0107 allegedly made to Cifri\u0107 (or to \u201cthe co-owner of the website who went to Russia\u201d) prior to the match with England, up until yesterday has gained an impressive 43,199 views<\/a>. Also, it had as many as 14,200 shares on Facebook. The other statement that Suba\u0161i\u0107 allegedly made after the game had 10,589 views<\/a>, and the claim that Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107 stated the same was viewed 5,608 times<\/a>. The specific \u201cprocessing\u201d of the interview published by Ve\u010dernji List<\/em> wasn\u2019t bad as well \u2013 by the time this article was written, Cifri\u0107 had collected 4,066 views<\/a> from it. Comparing it with the most shared post from his former website, which failed to gain more than 112 interactions on Facebook, the progress is obvious \u2013 thousands of people have believed him this time. Also, it\u2019s likely earned thousands of dollars from the ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The allegation that \u201cmany websites have tried to get rich\u201d \u2013 which apparently, judging by this article on Facebook, refers to Raskrinkavanje<\/em> \u2013 seems particularly cynical in this context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How does the \u201cwebsite farm\u201d that launched this and other fake news work?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

 The website \u017divotni stil,<\/em> following a pattern typical for anonymous news websites, uses a number of different Facebook pages for sharing its content across this platform. These pages usually have names which are not even similar to the name of media whose content they share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this specific case, we found two examples \u2013 Balkan Vijesti <\/em>and Balkan Vijesti 2. <\/em>The page for Balkan Vijest<\/em>i was created in 2017 and before becoming a \u201cbulletin board\u201d for \u017divotni stil,<\/em> it shared the content of other anonymous news websites, including Omiljeni Portal,<\/em> which bears Cifri\u0107\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This Facebook page used to attract followers by posting provocative photos, one of which was even used as its profile picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The page Balkan Vijesti 2<\/em>, however, had a bit more complicated \u201chistory\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started as a site dedicated to the Serbian band Elitni odredi; afterwards, it shared a series of humorous and other memes and then it began sharing links to various anonymous portals, including Olimp Info, Omiljeni Portal<\/em> and most recently \u017divotni stil<\/em>. The former name of the page was Zanimljivo 24h <\/em>(as can be seen in its URL). Olimp portal <\/em>and Zanimljivo 24h <\/em>are also the names of the pages managed by Tarik Cifri\u0107, which can be seen from the screenshot he sent us, with the request that we do not publish it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a common \u201croad to success\u201d for these Facebook pages. When such pages gather enough followers, owners of anonymous websites usually buy, sell and rent them to one another, and the pages can be \u201cmonetized\u201d later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for the frequent change in website names, along with shutting down the old and buying new domains, is the fact that the owners of such websites are violating Google\u2019s rules regarding the use of their ads (AdSense). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how Cifri\u0107\u2019s practices also became a topic of forum discussions<\/a> on geek.hr<\/em><\/a>, where other website owners discussed \u201cscams with AdSense\u201d and called out Omiljeni portal f<\/em>or \u201ccheating\u201d, using scripts with popup windows that feature ads which force visitors to open the advertisement in order to see the content of the article. The second thing mentioned was the script which refreshes the page every few seconds and artificially increases the number of visits to \u201ctrick\u201d the AdSense counter of page views. Also, there are ads hidden behind photos or videos in the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these scams are the reason for frequent changes in domain names and page names \u2013 as Google, sooner or later, discovers the scams and blocks users domains and IP addresses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is probably why Olimp <\/em>became Omiljeni Portal <\/em>and then \u017divotni stil.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sad story about journalism and \u201cjournalism\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The fact that something like this could have been the source of any \u201cnews\u201d apart from alarming media illiteracy tells us how devastating the situation in local and regional media is, especially for those media focused on online \u201cjournalism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When redistributing the original statement, no one bothered to check where and how the statement was taken, and no one wondered how did this website come up with such an exclusive statement by Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107, who had never previously spoken on similar topics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the numerous media outlets that had distributed the statement had a problem with the irrefutable fact that something like this had not been said at the aforementioned press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, none of these media doubted the other alleged Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statements that \u017divotni stil <\/em>continued to publish soon after the match was over: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BALKAN ON ITS FEET: Suba\u0161i\u0107 in tears. Making it to the finals is my gift to Bosniaks and mothers of Srebrenica\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s even necessary to prove that Suba\u0161i\u0107 wasn\u2019t the one who gave the statement to an obscure website such as \u017divotni stil <\/em>immediately after his victory over England, here is the actual statement he made after the game that took Croatia to the World Cup finals (the source of the statement is the official site of Croatian Football Association):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came to Russia believing we could do something. I would like to thank our management who had made us able to play like this. I would also like to thank our fans, as all of this comes from positivity and unity. Let Croatia celebrate and enjoy because we are throwing ourselves out here for that. I am regularly communicating with French players and we will now meet in finals \u2013 I told them this already. Now, we will see how that unfolds. In the match against England, we were better, although there was \u201ca slowdown\u201d in the first half. Huge thanks to everybody, we have now surpassed the generation of \u201998. This is a dream come true, it\u2019s hard to even imagine that we are playing in the World Cup finals. After this I can die without any regrets.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

All the statements Suba\u0161i\u0107 made during the World Cup were similar to the one above. They related to his game<\/a>, upcoming<\/a> and already played matches<\/a>, in short \u2013 all of those were exclusively related to sports topics. The only place where one can read statements such as \u201cI prayed to Allah to help us, and He had heard my prayers\u201d was the page of \u017divotni stil<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time when a fictitious Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement appeared on this website, \u017divotni stil <\/em>also published a number of other articles with similar topics, whose main protagonists, apart from Suba\u0161i\u0107, were Zdravko Mami\u0107 and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No statement attributed to these people exists anywhere except on this website. But, unlike others, the alleged Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement was soon picked up by other anonymous news websites and spread at the speed of light across social networks. From there, it also reached the mainstream media \u2013 and then, via TV show host Igor \u0160timac, Suba\u0161i\u0107 himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are also not aware that any of the media which have been claiming that the first statement is truthful, has ever commented on the fact that, on July 14, 2018, \u017divotni stil<\/em> published a third fictional quote by Suba\u0161i\u0107 which says that he made the statement \u201conly to \u017divotni stil\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBut Suba\u0161i\u0107 confirmed it!\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the story of Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement took a rather unexpected turn after the interview given to Igor \u0160timac, who acted as if the fact that several media redistributed the statement was enough to declare it as true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0160TIMAC<\/strong>: Danijel, for all that you have done for the Croatian national team so far, for everything that you did to reach the finals, and for this feeling of unity which reigns in our beautiful homeland, on behalf of everyone in Croatia, thank you. On Sunday, we want you to be at your best, with God\u2019s help. You dedicated your last game and its result to the Mothers of Srebrenica. Have you planned something similar for this match too, or will you decide and publish it just before the game?
SUBA\u0160I\u0106<\/strong>: We\u2019ll see, if we win, let it be for all of us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

 What actually happened in those few seconds of the conversation?<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

At the very end of the interview, Igor \u0160timac casually made the claim that Suba\u0161i\u0107 devoted the last game to Srebrenica and immediately went to the next question, asking if he plans to devote the next match to somebody else too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, after two days of public controversy surrounding the alleged Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement, this player was put in a rather awkward position to open the conversation of whether he really made such a statement on July 11, 2018; and if not, why didn\u2019t he deny it as soon as it appeared. It would undoubtedly trigger a new avalanche of media reports, this time with a negative connotation \u2013 especially by the thousands of people who were moved by the statement and quickly shared it across the social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After \u0160timac\u2019s question, Suba\u0161i\u0107 also had the opportunity not only to explicitly deny the statement but also to explicitly confirm it, or to comment on it in any way, since its truthfulness has been intensively debated since it was published. He didn\u2019t do that. In the interaction with the TV host, Suba\u0161i\u0107 said just one \u201caha\u201d and then answered the question about the next game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would certainly be worth discussing what were the motives behind such a question from the host and the answer that followed \u2013 and whether it was journalism at all, or simply a \u201cPR crisis\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FIFA World Cup was flooded by a series of fake news and misinformation \u2013 we wrote about it several times. Many of these were related to politics and other sensitive topics \u2013 and there is certainly nothing more sensitive than Srebrenica in this region. Anyhow, in this case we can safely say that the lie was so endearing, so emotional, so \u201chuman\u201d  that most of the audience wanted it to be true. And after Igor \u0160timac had put these words into Daniel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s mouth, he simply could not retreat and agreed to become the \u201cowner\u201d of the alleged statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a response can, therefore, be quite legitimately interpreted as a confirmation that Suba\u0161i\u0107, in an interview he gave on July 14, had dedicated the previous match to the mothers of Srebrenica. However, it cannot in any way be interpreted as a confirmation that he did such a thing on July 11. And we will say it once again, there is still absolutely no evidence for that. To make this claim truthful, the events of the previous five days had to take the following order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Although Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107 did not participate in the press conference on July 11, 2018, this was the event where he directly responded to \u201cco-owner of \u017divotni stil<\/em>\u201d and told him the following (we\u2019re quoting the original):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight we are playing the big semi-final match against the English. I kept this for the very beginning of the match: Tonight\u2019s game I will play for the mothers of Srebrenica and all Bosniaks. I\u2019m so sorry for their losses. So I dedicate this game to them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 As soon as the match with England ended, Suba\u0161i\u0107, thrilled with the victory, skipped hundreds of sports reporters who covered the World Cup and hurried to answer to an anonymous friend of Tarik Cifri\u0107:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My heart is fulfilled, my soul is fulfilled. When I achieved my aim, I knew that it is a day of grievance in Bosnia, but tonight I kept the goal for them for 120 minutes. I prayed to Allah to help us, and He had heard my prayers, once again this was for the mothers of Srebrenica and all Bosniaks. Best regards, your Daniel Suba\u0161i\u0107.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Three days later, when a journalist Igor \u0160timac opened the topic on \u201cdedicating the matches\u201d, Suba\u0161i\u0107, according to the article published on \u017divotni stil,<\/em> replied:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I PLAYED FOR THE MOTHERS OF SREBRENICA: I had told this only to \u017divotni stil<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After five days, none of the official sources answered to a single inquiry in order to clarify how all these impossible situations could have happened. In the abundance of media outlets which triumphantly announced that they were right when they redistributed the original \u201cstatement\u201d, not one has yet written where, when and to whom the alleged statement was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, there is still no word on the release of any recording to confirm it. It is understood that none of them even questioned whether, after three days of widespread public discussion, this was indeed \u201cconfirmed\u201d by one restrained \u201caha\u201d spoken at the end of the extensive interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day, all we know about the alleged statement is that its author owns the anonymous website \u017divotni stil <\/em>\u2013 as we found out on the first day it was published. And no, we didn\u2019t make a mistake when we wrote it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(raskrinkavanje.ba)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analyzed based on the suggestion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Croatia\u2019s Goalkeeper delighted the Bosniaks just before the semifinals: Tonight I play for mothers and Bosniaks of Srebrenica<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just before yesterday\u2019s semifinals<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suba\u0161i\u0107 confirmed the speculations: He dedicated the victory to the mothers of Srebrenica!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THERE WAS NO FALSE NEWS: Suba\u0161i\u0107 played the semifinals for Mothers of Srebrenica<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the past three days, we devoted our attention to finding additional research on the story regarding Danijel Suba\u0161i\u0107\u2019s statement in order to determine if we were really wrong when we rated it as a fabrication made by the website\u00a0\u017divotni stil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[37,10,22],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","tag-politics","tag-sport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2060,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions\/2060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}