On the occasion of its 11th birthday, the first fact-checking media outlet in the Balkans region Istinomer will organize the online panel discussion “Epidemy of Lies on the Balkans” which will be held on Monday, December 14, 2020 at 16:00 CET on Zoom.
Istinomer, based in Belgrade in Serbia, is one of the founding members of the Anti-Disinformation Network from the Balkans.
The panelists include representatives of fact-checking organizations from the region, as well as special guest Daniel Funke, a journalist of the leading US fact-checking media outlet Politifact , who will share his fact-checking experiences in times of pandemic.
From the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the virus circulating, on the Internet, in newspapers, on Viber and WhatsApp platforms, even in SMS messages… inaccurate and dangerous information about the coronavirus are being spread.
Did a larger number of citizens come to understand how important it is to have trustworthy and reliable information? The pandemic was both a challenge and an opportunity for the fact-checkers who were verifying the accuracy of the information shared on the social networks, but also the claims of prominent experts and other public figures. Just within the #CoronavirusFactsAlliance founded by the International Fact-Checking Network, more than 9,000 falsehoods about the coronavirus have been detected and debunked.
Main issues to be examined during the panel include: What did we learn about journalism during the coronavirus pandemic? How did facts verification of the pandemic related stories reflect on the work of regional fact-checking media outlets and their reach, and what is the impact of such content? Is the cooperation between fact-checkers and Facebook efficient in reducing the spread of misinformation on this social network?
A keynote speaker will be the Politifact representative Daniel Funke and discussion will include regional fact-checkers:
- Milijana Rogač, Istinomer journalist from Serbia
- Ana Brakus, Faktograf journalist from Croatia
- Vesna Radojević, Raskrikavanje journalist from Serbia
- Filip Stojanovski, Director for Partnership and Resource Development in Metamorphosis Foundation, from North Macedonia, the founder organization of the fact-checking media outlet Vistinomer and online resource center CriThink.mk
The discussion will be moderated by Istinomer journalist Siniša Dedeić.
To get an access link to this online discussion, you need to register in advance HERE .
Simultaneous Serbian to English translation will be provided.
