By Jona Plumbi
Media reporting in Kosovo on a tragedy at Lake Ujmani took on a ludicrous tone when the focus shifted from the serious incident of a young man losing his life in the lake to the Kurti government’s propaganda and, subsequently, to unfounded accusations of photo manipulation.
A Facebook post by Kosovo’s Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, announcing the intervention of specialized diving and search-and-rescue units of the Kosovo Security Forces to recover the body of a 33-year-old Albanian man who drowned in Lake Ujmani in Zubin Potok, was exploited for propaganda disputes and to generate clicks.
The Vetëvendosje Movement posted Minister Maqedonci’s announcement on Facebook, under the title “KSF for the first time as an army in the country’s north.” This prompted strong reactions in Kosovo, with accusations that Vetëvendosje was engaging in unnecessary propaganda, supported by former KSF members who recalled a similar operation in 2015.
Another detail added to the media confusion and misinformation. The images selected by Minister Maqedonci for Facebook showed only KSF vehicles, leaving out the KFOR vehicles that accompanied them during the operation in the Serb-majority area.
Soon after, another image, very similar to Maqedonci’s, circulated online, but this second image clearly depicted the KFOR vehicles as well.
That alone was sufficient to spark claims that the Kosovo government had altered the images for propaganda ends. Faktoje’s verification found that the first to publish this accusation of image manipulation was journalist Lirim Mehmetaj.
In fact, just a simple online check would have revealed the source of the photos, proving there was no manipulation involved.On July 29, at 08:40, the Kosovo outlet Kallxo published an album on its Facebook page where both images in question appear clearly.
Further confirmation comes from the video published by Kallxo, where the very first frame matches exactly the photo shared by Defense Minister Maqedonci.
The verification of whether the minister actually manipulated and modified the images was not the primary aim of the media outlets that circulated this claim. Consequently, the misinformation, driven by the desire to “expose” a government propaganda lie, spread rapidly through the media.
The authenticity of the two images was again confirmed by Kallxo journalist Artan Hamiti in a video, in which he explained that he was the author of both images and that neither had been manipulated. Despite this, the media outlets that spread the misleading story continue to keep it online unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Vetëvendosje movement used the situation to build a triumphalist narrative about the presence of the FSK in the North, which was easily supported by facts and testimonies from former FSK members. Reactions also came from the German and French representations in Kosovo, which called for depoliticization, respect, and proper recognition for the KFOR forces, while praising the media that clearly highlighted their role in the operation to recover the body of the young man who drowned in Ujman.
The image selection by Minister Maqedonci, who clearly intended to support Vetëvendosje’s narrative, became a source of false and misleading information, further obscuring the truth instead of clarifying it. In the end, propaganda requires as much care as criticism, otherwise, readers lose the opportunity to be informed by facts.
