The “freedom fighters” who spread fake news for money are caught in the act, but they don’t admit it. After the scandalous discovery that the pro-government media, i.e. its owner Xhabir Deralla, sponsored a fake video posted on Facebook to destroy the reputation of the Vice-President of VMRO DPMNE and the party, the advertising ended promptly. But the sharp reactions from journalists did not end, due to the government’s constant promises to fight fake news, which it actually practices itself, reports Alfa TV.

The editor of the show, Jovica Paunovski, in which the vice-president of VMRO-DPMNE, Aleksandar Nikoloski, was a guest, and from which parts of the conversation were cut, pasted and edited, wrote that the video taken from his interview was fake and edited. “As the editor and host of the show, I feel the responsibility to emphasize that it is a EDITED AND FAKE video. The guest in the show did not express these views! “It is unfortunate that individuals destroy journalism in the service of the party, and present themselves to the public as fighters for fake news,” wrote Paunovski.

The Association of Journalists condemns any distribution of fake news. They say that in the era of misinformation and harmful news in Macedonia, party exponents are generally in the lead and we have witnessed this in the past as well as now, and this usually happens when political tensions grow in the country.

News site edited by “fighter against misinformation” Xhabir Deralla published an edited video meant to present VMRO-DPMNE as an anti-Western party

It was the same when the Prespa Agreement was voted on, then when the country joined NATO, and we see that there is a similar tendency even now. We point out that labeling people and spreading disinformation about the political opponent, from one, two or third parties, seriously harms the political climate, but can even more harm the professional integrity and reputation of journalists, thereby contributing to a decrease in trust. to the public in the media, say ZNM for Alfa.

There are no so-called fact-checking organizations, or fact-checkers, who are otherwise very vocal when it comes to “spitting” on critics of the government.

In Deralla’s edited video, Nikoloski is heard saying that he personally and his VMRO-DPMNE party are against the EU, while in reality, Nikoloski is saying the exact opposite. If you use Facebook’s transparency tool, you will see that the frontline.mk portal, part of Xhabir Deralla’s Civil group, is behind the phone number through which the profile was created.

Frontline.mk claimed yesterday that their phone number was misused for tendentious and manipulative purposes in order to damage their reputation and credibility. Anyone who has even a little understanding of how posts are sponsored on this social network is clear to him that this is impossible.

Journalist Kristijan Landov responded that the problem of spreading fake news is serious. “This is not a joke, but a serious scandal. We will soon explain why. And yes, nonsense like “Someone misused the number” does not go through. “In order to be able to sponsor political posts, you must be verified with a phone number,” wrote the journalist.

The vice-president of VMRO-DPMNE, Aleksandar Nikolovski, on the other hand, reacts via Facebook that “the bottom was broken because such fake news is sponsored. “I hope that after this, their donors, above all, from the European countries and others who finance it, will seriously consider whether they should continue to finance creators of fake news in order to score political points for SDSM and DUI!” “Which “fighter against fake news” is sponsoring fake news on Facebook,” asks Nikolovski in the post.

And while Deralla denies it himself, with a brief check of the Facebook profiles “Micko Kochi” and “Politicians” as the ones who ordered the advertising, which are linked to the phone number of “Frontline”, it can be seen that thousands of euros have been spent on propaganda against the opposition with fake news and defamation of those who oppose Bulgarian demands and constitutional changes, Alfa TV reports.

By the way, the “Frontline.mk” portal is part of the Shortcut group, which includes several websites.