Citizens in situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic are more sensitive to disinformation and that is why it is important for fact-checking to be an integral part of the journalism activity, there should be systematic strengthening of the media culture and media literacy, whereas the social networks are usually the “stand” where false information is served, are just some of the theses that were outlined at the panel discussion “Pandemic and infodemic”, which was held on December 1.
Panellists highlighted that the creation and distribution of fake news and disinformation in this period remains great. Some news in some cases are maliciously placed for the purpose of creating confusion among citizens.
The panel was attended by Jasna Bacovska, university professor, Filip Stojanovski from Metamorphosis, Flaka Pollozhani, Special advisor on media and broadcasting at the Ministry of Information Society and Administration and Petrit Saracini, media expert and member of CIVIL. The panel discussion was moderated by Dehran Muratov.
Filip Stojanovski from Metamorphosis noted at the panel discussion that the role of journalists is key in the fight against infodemic and that journalists need to recognize disinformation, because we have witnessed how cases of disinformation have caused discontent and tensions in our society, due to the content released by centers of power. Such manipulative content most often does not go through journalism filters in order to check whether they are relevant or not.
“We have media that once a certain disinformation is published do not publish a correction, and they should even be apologizing to the readers they have deceived. It is similar with people who spread fake news. Citizens learn from the media how to act, more specifically, if the media act unethically, then they create space in which unethical attitude becomes a norm”, says Stojanovski.
He stressed that fact-checking should not be a special genre, but an integral part of the journalism activity.
“According to a survey by Kritnik, 95 percent of the journalists who participated in the survey needed education on media literacy, as the situation with new technologies is always changing and we need to learn about them, to incorporate those skills in the primary, secondary and higher education, especially for journalists”, noted Stojanovski.
He also adds that fact-checking is just one branch of journalism, since it has been noticed that it is not the only solution, but that healing of the entire system is needed, all forms of journalism, and if they function how they are supposed to, then they will be a shield and a public service.
“Certainly we cannot cover all disinformation coming out every day, very few people work on that, there are very few funds for that”, emphasized Stojanovski.
University professor Jasna Bacovska at the panel discussion “Pandemic and infodemic” outlined that media literacy is very important, but is not neglected, especially in the higher education.
“I am very scared, I am very distressed by some occurrences, I wonder what we are victims to, all those things are starting to upset us, and we who work on this issue are also not immune to it. We have received extremely disoriented citizens, and I sense that those young people with whom I work every day have a big problem perceiving what is happening in society. Media culture and media literacy should be systematically strengthened, but that way is the slowest and that is why the conservatives strike here”, said Bacovska.
She says that for years she has been unsuccessfully fighting for media law to be a subject.
“We need smart and professional journalists, who, for instance, have been working their entire lives in healthcare, we need them, they know the job, we do not have specialized journalists, they report in all categories”, added Bacovska.
She asks – Can we manage to catch every lie, is everything we say a lie? Perhaps it is an opposed view or not knowing?
“Europe says – leave the neutrality. I advocate for systematic solutions, for media literacy. There is a difference between countries, only about 20 countries in the world have enormous freedom of speech, the least disinformation, where it has been responded in an appropriate manner. Someone is convinced that they are not spreading a lie, and I think that the process will be long-term”, said Bacovska.
Petrit Saracini noted that certain surveys from the United States show that citizens inform themselves more from social networks than from commercial media, and that the same thing is happening across the world, hence in our country as well. He added that social networks are usually the “stand” where false information is served.
“In April and May there were times when we had 2-3 pieces of disinformations every day, not as one product, but orchestrated sharing of fake news and disinformation. We had over 100 examples amidst the pandemic, when we had restrictive measures, when everyone was at home, they followed this information and were victims of the same, not only consuming them, but often also acting” added Saracini.
He pointed out that in legislation when we speak about slander, insult, hate speech, the restrictions and how far freedom can go are clear.
“And when a court or body determines whether something is a violation, it first starts from the intention, to mislead the public to a misconception. If there is such, then it should be qualified as some kind of an act.
Traditional media wanted regulation for the online media, we had TV stations and newspapers that refused to open online websites”, pointed out Saracini.
Flaka Pollozhani, Special adviser on media and broadcasting at the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, stressed that citizens in such situation such as the Covid-19 pandemic are more sensitive to disinformation.
“In this past period we have faced an infodemic with fake news on the 5G network, it was in weird ways associated with the virus and space was not provided for people to be more protected from that fake news and to be able to be properly informed. The Ministry of Information Society and Administration in the previous period has realized several activities with which we have tried to raise awareness among citizens. Citizens are usually the ones who share them, while the media usually creates fake news”, said Pollozhani.
She added that the campaign had been intended to help citizens make a difference about what they share.
“The first steps were made, but the following part, as a government program, anticipates creating a strategy against fake news. I do not know how sufficient of a mechanism it is and I do not know what kind of results it will give in practice. But I do think that it is a good initial step that can create a framework for us how to behave in the next period, and as I mentioned seeing all this from the perspective of human rights. I hope that we will be able to contribute in this area, the spreading of news, especially on the platforms, is very fast, but I think that there is room also together with the NGO sector to specify that agenda within a strategy. It should be an inclusive process where all factors of the field will be included”, said Pollozhani.
Fake news and disinformation during the pandemic have also produced hate speech, particularly on the social networks.
D.M
camera: Atanas Petrovski
editing: Arian Mehmeti
translation: N. Cvetkovska
