“Baba Vangja” Is Not a Credible Source for Articles Praising Putin’s Character

It is not professional to publish articles that arouse emotions in readers, especially in emergencies, and their only source is someone who claims to predict the future. The news we are reviewing announces a “prophecy” of Baba Vangja as a done deal and it cannot be considered as credible information. Also, by publishing such prophecies, the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin is unnecessarily glorified and in that way the media, with or without intention, joins the Russian propaganda, writes Portalb.mk

Author: Ardit Ramadani

The extremely sensational headline, especially at a time when citizens are carefully listening and following the media to understand what is happening in Ukraine, “preaches” that Putin will rule the world.

“Putin will rule the world”, BABA VANGJA WITH A BOMB: Here’s what will happen next”  is the headline of the news we are reviewing.

After the headline, the entire context is based on the sermon of the Bulgarian prophetess with Macedonian origin, known as Baba Vangja and contains information that is almost impossible to verify as true or false, but they cause panic among the masses.

“The two greatest rulers of the world will shake hands,” said the prophetess, adding that there would be no peace in the world until the “eighth” came, and many saw Putin as the “eighth”, – reads the news article we are reviewing.

Science: The future cannot be foreseen!

So far, despite great scientific discoveries, no means have been discovered to foresee the future, so any information that claims the opposite is untrue and contrary to scientific facts.

One of the basic questions that journalists should ask themselves before publishing news is, “What are the arguments on which the news is based?” If they manage to give a logical answer to this question, it can be said that the news contains the basic elements for publication.

In this case, at the moment when there are statements that arouse emotions in the readers and can cause panic, the journalist must use other sources (at least two mutually independent) to confirm the published information. In this case, in addition to the mystical part, or the one that arouses interest, it was necessary to establish the scientific facts about the (im)possibility of foreseeing the future as well as additional information related to the specific topic.

As reviewers of this news, we conclude that it does not contain facts, the news is not accurate and the sources are not verified, the claims of a prophet of the future are not always credible, but can often have a negative impact on readers.

The journalist of the text used the manipulation technique “Appeal to probability“ taking advantage of the fact that there are people who believe that the so-called Baba Vangja was right in some sermons and should definitely be right this time as well.

Because we are talking about the future, it is difficult to refute the above article with conflicting facts, so one of the other manipulation techniques used by the author is “Appeal to ignorance“.

Apart from a false analogy, the author used the emergency situation in the world with the Russian-Ukrainian war to place sensational news related to this, which obviously arouses the interest of the readers, although often that news is inaccurate and sensational, as in the specific case.

Let us not ignore the fact that by publishing this information, Russian President Vladimir Putin is automatically placed on the pedestal as a world leader and it is not ethical, especially given the fact that he is currently leading an aggressive attack on Ukraine. By placing such sermons, republished by the Serbian media, the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin is unnecessarily glorified and thus the media, with or without intention, joins the Russian propaganda.

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