Itera Latvija manager Juris Savickis considers turning to the police over the fake information about his death that was published by multiple Latvian media on Thursday, the 7th of November.
In the morning of the 8th of December multiple media in Latvia received a press-release document, detailing the apparent death of Juris Savicskis.
The press-release detailed Savickis’ biography, accomplishments, as well as the place and date of his funeral. The press-release itself that was sent from Google e-mail service Gmail.
Itera Latvija employees that were contacted to confirm this information was surprised about the press-release and the information reported in it.
Savickis, meanwhile, comments that he has no experience dealing with such cases. He said he finds the whole ordeal funny.
«I don’t know what to do. I’ll have a talk with lawyers – then we’ll see,» he said.
Media that were quick to publish the news of Savicskis’ death later removed their publications.
State Police, meanwhile, reports that residents have the right to report such cases to authorities.
Delfi portal’s acting editor-in-chief and senior editor of open source content Jānis Bagātais explained that the portal had not checked the facts of the situation sufficiently enough. Fortunately, after suspicions surfaced about the authenticity of the press-release, Delfi removed the news. Delfi also apologized to Savickis over the whole situation.
When asked if the portal has any plans to turn to the police, Bagātais said Delfi will decide on future actions after consulting with lawyers.
«This is an example when multiple commercial and social media dozed off. This whole story is a reminded that it is important to check all incoming information, especially in such important topics,»
admits Bagātais, adding that this particular case will be discussed in the office to draw conclusions and learn from it.
TVNet deputy editor-in-chief Dita Deruma said the press-release received allegedly from Itera Latvija is a classic example of fake news with multiple ‘red flags’, which an experienced editor would notice immediately, while young and inexperienced editors may find such a task quite challenging.
«Although TVNet trains their news editors very intensely before they are allowed to start their duties, it is difficult to predict all possible situations. This lack of experience played in scammers’ favour this time,» she said.
She stressed that the objective of such fake news is undermining the trust residents have for local media, as well as preparing the information space for misleading information, conspiracy theories and lies about politics, medicine and science.
Deruma also said from now on the company will pay more attention to the training young and aspiring journalists receive in order to prevent such situations from repeating again.
TV3.lv editor-in-chief Ģirts Krastiņš said that when the press-release was received the editorial office was in the middle of a morning meeting, where this topic was discussed.
He said the Gmail address attached to the press-release was the first «red flag».
«We then contacted Savickis. He, of course, denied reports of his death, adding that he may take actions against those who reported this fake news,» said Krastiņš. TV3.lv did not publish information about Savickis’ alleged death.
When asked if this case reflects the bigger picture of the fake news problem, Krastiņš said it is and this case there should be training organised to help editors tell fake news and real news apart.