… Ambassador reveals this during the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day
BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE– The European Union has declared war on misinformation and disinformation.
This morning, EU Ambassador Her Excellency Dessislava Choumelova revealed that they had formed an ‘Action Plan Again Disinformation’ as part of their contribution towards fair and truthful reporting.
Her Excellency revealed this today at the commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day 2023 at Mountain View Hotel while addressing editors and journalists in the different media houses in Eswatini.
Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information and disinformation is false information that is intended to mislead. The difference between disinformation and misinformation is intent.
The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom commemoration is “Shaping a Future of Rights – Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights”
“There is a pressing need to counter and mitigate these challenges. Press freedom, including the safety of journalists and access to information, scrutiny over media ownership and platform regulation, have become vital. Without a free flow of information, a free and vibrant media, corruption and human rights violations would be rampant and we would not be able to hold power accountable.
“Anti-corruption and investigative journalism uncovers wrongdoings that affect the rights of people. But for the media to play its enabling role – that of enabling the enjoyment of rights by citizens, it has to fully grasp and understand these challenges that confront our societies and which tend to violate people’s fundamental rights. In a rapidly changing world, we face multiple challenges, some call it “poli-crises”, such as conflicts and violence, polarised societies, threats to the fundamental freedoms, persistent and deepening socio-economic inequalities, issues of health and well-being of people, environmental crises, often clouded in layers of misinformation and disinformation,” said the Ambassador.
Choumelova further said open democratic societies depended on the ability of citizens to access a variety of verifiable information so that they can form a view on different political issues.
“In this way, EU citizens can participate in an informed way in public debates and express their will through free and fair political processes, through elections but also via the recently held Conference on the Future of Europe, a citizen-led series of debates and discussions that ran from April 2021 to May 2022 and enabled people from across Europe to share their ideas and help shape our common future.
“However, these democratic processes are increasingly challenged by deliberate, large-scale and systematic spreading of disinformation and misinformation. In the EU, we have developed an Action Plan against Disinformation, which aims to strengthen EU capability and cooperation in the fight against disinformation. This Plan describes disinformation as verifiably false or misleading information that is created, presented and disseminated for political or economic gain or to intentionally deceive the public and may cause public harm. Misinformation is defined as false or misleading content shared without intent though the effects can be still harmful. The difference is that disinformation is shared with deliberate intent to deceive the public and cause public harm, whilst misinformation is shared without harmful intent.”
Explaining this, the Ambassador said both can have a range of harmful consequences, such as threatening our democracies, polarising debates, violating the public’s right to access credible and accurate information, thus putting the health and security of our societies at huge risk.
“Disinformation, in particular, is an evolving challenge, with high potential to negatively influence democratic processes and societal debates. A recent survey in Europe revealed that 83per cent of Europeans think fake news is a threat to democracy.
“The evidence is strong in the case of Russia who has used disinformation as a tool of choice to sway and distort public opinion since its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, particularly on the on-going unprovoked Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, adding cyber warfare to conventional military aggression.
I would like to strongly recommend to you an online resource we have developed for our citizens and journalists: EUvsDiSiNFO. It was established in 2015 to better forecast, address, and respond to the Russian Federation’s on-going disinformation campaigns affecting the European Union, its 27 Member States, and countries in our shared neighbourhood. EUvsDiSiNFO’s core objective is to increase public awareness and understanding of the Kremlin’s disinformation operations, and to help citizens in Europe and beyond challenge disinformation in full awareness of the facts. The website provides a number of different products: a database, examples of narratives on specific topics, such as elections, Ukraine, Belarus, China and Covid-29, weekly bulletins, fact-checking and articles by independent Russian journalists.”
She further said social media have become an important vehicle for spreading both disinformation and misinformation.
“Techniques include video manipulation (deep-fakes) and falsification of official documents; the use of internet automated software to spread and amplify divisive content and debates on social media; attacks on social media profiles, identity and information theft. These tools and techniques used to spread disinformation are changing fast and the response needs to evolve just as rapidly.
“That is why we in the EU have taken the lead and has put in place two pieces of legislation – the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act – to create a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected and to establish a level playing field for businesses. They are the core elements of the EU Digital Strategy.”
Concluding, Her Excellency said she encouraged all journalists in Eswatini to continue to uphold press freedom despite the many challenges you face, including violence and threats of violence.
“You are the fourth estate and your role is crucial. I am aware that some of you suffered devastating losses during the recent civil unrest and its wake. In the EU, freedom of expression is a core value that is enshrined in founding treaties and our cooperation agreements with partners around the world, including Eswatini. We discuss with the government the state of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and media freedom, during our annual Political dialogue with Eswatini. The EU supports pluralism, freedom of expression and quality information in the EU and globally. “We are also committed to strengthening the safety of journalists and other media professionals, both online and offline, including through new national support services, helplines, legal advice and aid, psychological support and shelters for journalists and media professionals facing threats. We are looking into an increased protection of journalists during demonstrations, greater online safety and particular support to female journalists.”
