Journalist and head of the anti-disinformation program, Fitim Gashi, has been awarded the First Prize for Fact-Checking for 2025!
This activity was carried out within the framework of the MIDWatch project, implemented by BIRN Kosova in partnership with Internews Kosova and the Association of Kosovo Journalists, with support from the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Kosovo.
This important award was presented to Gashi by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, for the research published in Sbunker, entitled “Telegram as a laboratory of propaganda and hatred.”
The research addresses coordinated disinformation campaigns undertaken by a network of Serbian and Russian-language channels on Telegram, which mainly target the Serbian community in Kosovo. Using a combined approach of digital monitoring tools, including OSINT, content analysis, and fact-checking, the research sheds light on how these channels, in coordination with pro-Kremlin media outlets, orchestrate the spread of manipulative and dangerous narratives.
This research, which has also been published on other regional platforms, contributes to documenting the growing influence of Telegram as a tool of hybrid warfare and provides the public with verifiable evidence on how propaganda from external actors targets local communities.
