THE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PRESIDENT IS AUTHENTIC Experts hired to refute the claims of alleged doctoring
Since Thursday, 8 June, when Kurir came into possession of a photograph of President Vučić at the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School, and published it in the interest of the general public, an orchestrated negative campaign has been running involving Šolak’s entire mechanism – about which we have been writing for years – in order to prove that the photograph is in fact doctored.
We did not respond immediately as we are used to being falsely accused, and were ready for them raising the issue of whether the President had been at the school, etc., but we did not expect that in pursuing their short-term interests they would go so far as to hire international lobbyists in order to keep the fabricated story of the doctored photograph going artificially for some time longer.
Therefore, the media and the organizations registered as fact-checkers, which are hired as needed and for certain interests, first falsely accused Kurir, and then hired experts from abroad in order to have their claims “confirmed”. This is yet another proof that they would go to any lengths and that there is a budget for achieving the short-term goals on their agenda.
But the truth is easy to prove. By simply checking the metadata of the photographs in our possession, it is clear that they are originals, and the only alteration in the “disputed” photograph is cropping, i.e. adapting the size of the photograph, which in no way diminishes its veracity. Anyone who works in digital media knows that it is a common practice when a photograph needs to be inserted into a pre-defined space on the website. Having said that, in order to remove any doubt, we offered that our experts and Nova S experts establish the veracity of the photograph together. As they have ignored the offer and published lies, we have hired independent experts who will carry out the evaluation of the photographs and the devices used to take them. It will take some time, but it is important to us to once and for all debunk the mechanisms that spin their lies into truths that are, as a rule now, “confirmed” by certain experts from abroad. Furthermore, we will go to the courts and other relevant authorities, here as well as in other countries, in order to protect our rights, but most of all the right of the general public to establish the truth.
