In their headlines, some media outlets have several times declared the “beginning of the war” in Ukraine.
For months, media from all over the world have been closely following the events in the increasingly tense relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Large international media houses, as well as local media, report on this topic on a daily basis.
As stated in the article published by Al Jazeera on January 25, 2022, the Ukrainian-Russian conflict began in 2014, when pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted for refusing to sign an agreement on rapprochement with the European Union. Russia has reportedly responded by annexing the Crimean peninsula and supporting a separatist uprising in the east of the country.
According to Reuters’ article from December 2021, after five months of armed conflict, Ukraine and the separatists signed the Minsk Agreement in September 2014, the provisions of which included the exchange of prisoners, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the withdrawal of heavy weapons. In February 2015, the Minsk 2 agreement was signed, the provisions of which, among other things, included the withdrawal of foreign troops from Ukraine, the return of control over state borders to the Ukrainian government, and the withdrawal of heavy weapons. Most of the provisions have never been implemented. Despite the signing of the agreement, sporadic fights between pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine are happening constantly.
An important element of this conflict is the fact that Russia does not want to allow Ukraine to become a member of the NATO alliance, which Russia demanded in December 2021. Russia has also begun amassing its troops on the border with Ukraine, which is why they are believed to be planning an armed conflict with Ukraine, according to the aforementioned Al Jazeera’s article.
The media in the region, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, also reported extensively on the situation in Ukraine. Articles published on websites mostly convey the statements of various politicians, analysts and foreign media reports, without any intervention or featuring authorial articles.
Despite the fact that the situation in Ukraine is tense and uncertain, it is still not possible to say whether there will be a military conflict between Ukraine and Russia. However, by sharing statements and reports, some websites “embellished” their articles with titles that implicitly or explicitly claim that the war between Ukraine and Russia “has began”. From October 2021 and to this date, some websites have already declared the beginning of the war several times.
On October 18, 2021, the website Alo online published an article entitled:
Despite the fact that the headline claims that “Ukraine attacked the Russians”, the article actually talks about the attack of the Ukrainian security forces on the troops of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic. The so-called LNR is a province located in eastern Ukraine and controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Given the fact that Luhansk is part of Ukraine, not Russia, describing the attack by Ukrainian forces as an “attack on the Russians” is manipulative, as it implies that Ukraine attacked Russia, which is not true.
The news was taken from the website Novosti, and the Serbian websites Alo and Pravda equipped it with the same manipulative headline suggesting how “Ukraine attacked the Russians”.
In its second headline, Alo online wrote about the “new war chapter” between Russia and Ukraine, in an article published in mid-November 2021:
The article actually talks about accusations from Ukraine, which claim that Russia blocked the import of coal from Kazakhstan to Ukraine. The article states that the Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Maxim Nemchinov, described the situation as an “energy war”.
Ukraine is in a state of energy war with Russia, Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Maxim Nemchinov told 1+1 television.
However, the title of this article, which mentions the so-called energy war, leads readers to the wrong conclusion that Ukraine has started an armed conflict with Russia.
The website Slobodna Bosna also informed its readers on several occasions that the war had started in Ukraine. Article published on January 23, 2022, is equipped with a title suggesting that “the war is starting”:
RUSSIAN SHIPS AND TANKS SET OFF, UKRAINIANS EXCHANGE PANIC MESSAGES: “War is starting …”
The article talks about how the inhabitants of the border areas shared stories on social networks about the events on the Russian-Ukrainian border, and how Russian troops were approaching the border. Although the article’s title quotes the alleged message that “the war is starting”, the text itself explains that the announcements on social networks do not state whether the official order to launch the invasion has come. Also, the article does not mention the alleged panic message of the Ukrainians, which claims that the war is starting.
Although the announcements do not state whether the order to start the invasion has already come, they give some rather concrete indications that such a scenario is being intensively prepared and that many soldiers think so.
The article was originally published by the website Nova, with a similar headline stating that “war is under way”, and was later shared by numerous websites in the region.
A few days later, on January 26, 2022, Slobodna Bosna published another article “embellished” with a sensationalist title, claiming that it has “begun”:
IT HAS BEGUN: The American embassy called on the citizens of the USA to leave Ukraine urgently
The article, whose title dramatically states that it has “begun”, explained that the American embassy in Kiev called on its citizens to leave Ukraine because the security situation is unpredictable, and not because the war has officially started in that country. Although the title states that it has “begun”, thus implying the beginning of an armed conflict, there are no such claims in the text itself.
On February 2, 2022, the website Cafe published an article with the title stating that it has “begun”, this time featuring a question mark:
The article, whose title dramatically states that it has “begun”, explained that the American embassy in Kiev called on its citizens to leave Ukraine because the security situation is unpredictable, and not because the war has officially started in that country. Although the title states that it has “begun”, thus implying the beginning of an armed conflict, there are no such claims in the text itself.
On February 2, 2022, the website Cafe published an article with the title stating that it has “begun”, this time featuring a question mark:
The article reports on alleged artillery fire in Donetsk, a separatist-controlled Ukrainian province. The article refers to posts from social networks, and it is emphasized that it is not known who is firing artillery.
Heavy fire echoes in Donetsk, it was published on social networks.
According to the description of the videos posted on social networks, heavy artillery fire has been echoing in that part of Ukraine since early morning.
Another video states that the artillery is echoing in the Kirovski district.
For now, it is not clear who is firing that artillery.
The title on this website also implies that the war has begun. Although, as we have already mentioned, sporadic conflicts in the east of Ukraine have been going on since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, such titles imply the resumption of the military conflict, although that is not the case. Articles and reports on such sporadic conflicts, as is the case with some of the previously mentioned articles, incorrectly and manipulatively imply that these two countries officially started a war.
By publishing sensationalist headlines on this topic, these websites aim to provoke negative emotions of fear and panic among their readers and thus gather as many clicks as possible on their articles. Such an “inciting” approach to this sensitive topic is not in the public interest and is not in line with ethical principles and professional standards of journalism.
Therefore, we give all articles that were the subject of this analysis a clickbait rating.
We also rate the articles that claim that “Ukraine attacked the Russians” and that “Kiev opened a new war chapter with Russia” as manipulation of facts.
We give the rating of disinformation to the article published by Slobodna Bosna, whose title states that it has “begun”.
We give the same assessment to the articles whose titles state that “the war is starting”.
(Author: Nerma Šehović, Raskrinkavanje.ba)
