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Journalists that have been fighting fake news for a longer time believe that clone websites are very dangerous to the public, as they can create confusion. Specifically, readers may trust the information produced by the clone-publication because of the good reputation the ‘original’, without checking their authenticity.
‘The project belongs to a group of independent journalists...’
We tried to get in touch with the project coordinators or with the editor-in-chief. We did not find any contact information on the website reporteronguard.wordpress.com. In the bottom corner of the page there is just a button which redirects to the Facebook page of the website. As a matter of fact, the publication itself is not exactly a website because it is hosted by a blogging platform – something less common in the media, which usually prefer to have a website of their own.
When we sent them a Facebook message, the administrators of the page, who did not introduce themselves, answered that the project belonged to a ‘group of associated independent journalists’ and that it would not publish news but opinions of some journalists from Moldova, Romania, Russia, EU and USA and that ‘it hasn’t been decided yet on who is going to be the chief administrator’. The person who answered to our message also added that two journalists from Chisinau, who live currently in Romania, work for the Republic of Moldova.
The materials are divided into 7 categories: News Moldova, Mapamond (worldwide news), Moldova, Opinions Moldova, Russia, USA, European Union. Most articles are published under the category Opinions Moldova (34) and the fewest articles are published under Mapamond (1) and Moldova (1).
The latest piece of news was published on the site on 27 July, exactly one month after the publication of the first article.
Most of the content consists of text taken over from other media websites (ziarulnational.md, realitatea.md, voceabasarabiei.md, deschide.md, ABCNews.md, etc), supplemented by texts of some bloggers. They mostly preferred the bloggers and journalists Nicolae Federciuc and Victor Nichitus – opinions of the former have been published multiple times (around 9) on the website.
Most of the articles are about the representatives of the parties Dignity and Truth (DA) and Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), which are presented in a bad light. Other texts describe the positive aspects of certain Government initiatives, such as the tax amnesty law or the construction of ‘Chisinau Arena’.
Page under construction
At the same time, the latest article on the Facebook page of the portal with the same name – Reporter on Guard/Reporterul de garda – was published on 15 August. The material, signed in the name of Alina Ciobanu, presents an analysis of the alleged exorbitant salaries. Alina Ciobanu did not answer to any of the Facebook messages sent by the reporter of Media Azi, but we received an answer to the request submitted to the Reporter on Guard page to provide more details about the project. According to the answer, which was not signed with a proper name, ‘the platform Reporter on Guard is an international project the website of which is under construction.’ At the same time, the content of the website will not consist of news, but will contain ‘exclusively opinions and analyses of certain Romanian, American and Russian opposition journalists, written in English and Romanian languages, with content from Romania, Republic of Moldova, Russia, USA and EU.’
A well-known name
Upon a repeated request to provide details on the name choice, we were told that the English version of the name would be used and that there would be no implications for Ziarul de Garda's editorial office: ‘The choice of name is natural, as the word ‘guard’ in the name will represent the voice of these journalists. This phrase will not be used in Romanian and has nothing in common with that editorial office.’
The administrators added that the website would be launched before the end of autumn, after succeeding with all test pages (free platforms). The message of page administrator also stated that ‘The headquarters of our editorial office will be in Bucharest, after the page is launched’. ‘The current Facebook page is available in English and Romanian only, but it will change into the final name when our Russian-language colleagues start to write, and that’s when the Russian language is going to be added to the name. That is why we were telling you that we have nothing to do with the similar project from Chisinau that you have mentioned’, stated the representatives of the platform.
Press release posted on Facebook
Besides, after Media Azi approached the representatives of Reporter on Guard, the words ‘Reporterul de Garda’, which appeared previously after the English name of the website, disappeared from the Facebook page of the platform. On the same day a message was posted, which summarised the information given to the journalist from Media-azi.md.
‘Our associated group of journalists, which works to create the Reporter On Guard entity in three languages (English, Romanian and Russian), which is going to cover our own opinions and analyses, but not news, states that we do not intend to disturb the work of Ziarul de Garda from the Republic of Moldova and that we have no connection with the Republic of Moldova, except for two journalists who will work for the Reporter on Guard project on topics related to Chisinau.’
Why are clone sites harmful?
The journalist Lilia Zaharia from the Association of Independent Press and on-line platformSTOP FALS, who has been dealing with countering fake news for some time, believes that clone sites are as dangerous to the public as fake news. This happens because readers/Internet users can not easily understand who are the authors or editors who published the information. ‘Very often, credible media outlets are victims of cloning in order to attract the public and to promote information. In this case, readers need to be very careful and check the information they consume,’ explains Zaharia.
The journalist also has some tips for those who are suspicious of certain clone sites and published articles. ‘If the site's URL resembles that of the portal of a credible media outlet, then you need to check whether other trustworthy media published such information. If the website raises suspicion, then report it on social networks,’ said Lilia Zaharia.
The reporter is also unhappy with the actions of the authorities in charge of counteracting cybercrime. ‘Unfortunately, the authorities hold both the bread and the knife: they could stop this cloning process if they wanted to. But I saw that even when the publication Ziarul de Garda and the portal Stopfals.md were cloned, authorities did nothing to identify the perpetrators and to punish them. Thus, they encourage other ‘craftsmen’ to create websites of their own overnight and invade the on-line environment with misinformation,’ said Zaharia.
She believes that more people and groups interested in the circulation of correct information should deal with combating such phenomena. ‘It is necessary to start a massive campaign, so that the journalists and other Internet users who know how to tell lies from truths would report and inform the public about clone sites that emerge overnight, that steal the identity and media products from a credible media outlet,’ concluded the journalist Lilia Zaharia.
It is not the first time when Ziarul de Garda and other media outlets face the appearance of sites that used the name and logo of the original website. The requests submitted to the law enforcement bodies have not been successful. Authorities responsible for combating cybercrime announced that they could not track the author of the clone website.
Among other clone websites that appeared in the on-line environment were Jurnalul.md, which resembles Jurnal.md and Ziarul Natiunii – a copy of Ziarul National.
