{"id":20604,"date":"2020-04-02T16:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T16:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/?p=20604"},"modified":"2020-04-02T16:28:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T16:28:15","slug":"fake-and-misinformation-news-armenia-media-digest-march-15-31-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2020\/04\/02\/20604\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake News circulated and refuted between March 15-31"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second half of March, people were actively being \u201clured\u201d into cybercrimes. There were urban myths, fake local and international news circulating in social media. In this period, it became clear that no new pandemic was being spread from China, and COVID-19 was not caused by sex with bats.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 70-year-old man from Gyumri did not die from Coronavirus <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On March 26, politik.am website wrote that a man over 70 died in Gyumri. \u201cBased on the initial symptoms,\u201d he was infected with Coronavirus. A few hours after the publication, the website posted a refutation. Before that, the press secretary of the Ministry of Health refuted the news.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the comments to Alina Nikoghosyan\u2019s status, \u201cthe Gyumri pathology lab representatives have talked to tert.am, clarifying that \u201cthey don\u2019t know anything for sure about the man being infected with Coronavirus \u2013 it\u2019s just rumors.\u201d Nikoghosyan has responded to Boris Murazi, the editor-in-chief of politik.am, by writing, \u201cBasically, you have turned into \u201crumor disseminators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Catholicos has not left Armenia<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On March 17, Mother See refuted the already-removed story of CivilNet.am, stating that the Catholicos of All Armenians had left the country, due to the existing situation. Fr. Vahram<\/em>\u00a0Melikyan, the Director of Information Services, clarified that the info was based on a photo provided to the media entity. The information was removed but the photo can be seen in the YouTube video.<\/p>\n

Fr. Vahram informed that the Catholicos is at Mother See \u201cwhere he has been discussing with the bishops the possible proportionate responses to the situation.<\/p>\n

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There is no free money on the internet<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the second half of March, media expert Samvel Martirosyan covered cybercrimes a few times in his Facebook page. In one case, he informed about \u201cfake giveaway frauds by \u201cHeno\u201d, \u201cSirusho\u201d and other celebrities,\u201d in another case he warned about the \u201cgifts\u201d distributed on behalf of Serj Tankian.\u201d He even posted a video message \u2013 \u201cstay away from online fraud\u201d \u2013 and stated \u201cHey folks, you cannot win or inherit any money on the internet \u2013 stop believing in money miracles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Media.am covered<\/a> the cybercrime with the use of Kim Kardashian\u2019s photo, suggesting a few tips to avoid online fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The incorrect translation was removed from 1lurer.am<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On March 26, 1lurer.am of Public TV posted a story titled Self-Isolation is useless in fighting the Epidemic<\/em>: WHO.<\/em> A few minutes later, they had to remove the post, due to the incorrect translation.<\/p>\n

It turns out that the World Health Organization\u2019s Director-General had not said that self-isolation was useless. Instead, he had said<\/a> that staying at home and shutting down population movement \u201cwill not extinguish epidemics on their own.\u201d Their goal is buying time and reducing the pressure on health systems.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ani Grigoryan, the editor-in-chief of Fact Investigation Platform<\/em>, wrote about it in a Facebook post, attracting the attention of the website and the commandant. The site removed the info, following the discussions of the status comments.<\/p>\n

Hantavirus is not a beginning of a new pandemic<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Twitter post<\/a> of Chinese media on a death of a hantavirus-positive person caused the Armenian media to spread sensational news, writing that \u201cwhile the world has been fighting Coronavirus, a new virus in Yunnan Province, China, has led to a death of one person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The online media called it a \u201cnew\u201d virus (although it had been around for over 70 years,) using panic-provoking and misleading headlines in their stories. Media.am covered<\/a> [AM] this issue, revealing that there is no need to panic \u2013 the virus is not a new one and will not turn into a pandemic because its human-to-human spread is very rare.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus is not caused by sex with bats<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On March 28, Hraparak.am wrote that the Chinese authorities had confirmed\u00a0the identity of the Coronavirus patient zero who was believed to have contracted the disease after having sex with bats. The story also contained the warning of Chinese officials to temporarily abstain from having sexual contact with any animals. The info source was Worldnewsdailyreport.com<\/a>, a fun website<\/a> posting satiric stories.<\/p>\n

You can easily see the heading World News Daily Report. Where Facts don\u2019t matter<\/em> at the top of the home page. The About us<\/em> sector of the website also includes an ironic text<\/a>. It states that the site is \u201cdedicated on covering biblical archeology news and other mysteries around the Globe.\u201d Moreover, it is said<\/a> at the bottom of the page that \u201cWNDR assumes all responsibility for the\u00a0satirical\u00a0nature of its articles.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Polls of unknown origin<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fact Investigation Platform<\/em> revealed that the poll on Artsakh elections (presented on March 17 by Haylur<\/em> newscast of the 5th<\/sup> channel) had not been conducted by \u201ca famous international sociological company\u201d or \u201ca famous Russian company\u201d but by the headquarters of one of the parties.<\/p>\n

Fip.am did not find the Twitter pages CIS Incrimination<\/em> and Armenian Chronicles<\/em>. Instead, channels with similar names were discovered at Telegram. The questionnaire mentioned in the TV story, as well as the poll results were found in Armenian Chronicles<\/em>. The questionnaire clearly says that the poll is conducted by the headquarters of a political party, without mentioning it, in order not to affect the results.<\/p>\n

Fake news on Facebook<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the second half of March, fake and real Facebook users, pages and stolen accounts spread a number of misleading and panic-provoking info. Let\u2019s mention a few of them:<\/p>\n