We must immediately start working together to develop a culture of media literacy in our societies and build resistance to misinformation, said Deputy Secretary General of the Council for Regional Cooperation (RCC) Tanja Miščević at the opening of the internet seminar on disinformation in the Western Balkans, which was held yesterday and today in Sarajevo.
Developing resistance to fake news should be considered almost the main component of the overall security policy in every economy of the Western Balkans, stated Miščević.
"Together with our partners, we will engage in regional activities that support a stronger professional media infrastructure, help educate diverse audiences to better understand the broader consequences of disinformation and misinformation, and encourage critical thinking and fact-checking," she said.
On a scale of 0 to 100, the region's media literacy index ranges from 12 to 31, and during a pandemic, spreading the truth quickly is more important than ever, especially knowing that false information can cost someone their life. False information reaches 1.500 people six times faster than the truth.
"We were convinced that our so-called consolidated democracies were safe and it was embarrassing to realize the sensitivity of our institutions, which should always be protected. Media freedom in the region needs to be significantly improved," said Louise Kyodi of the Observatory for the Balkans, the Caucasus and trans-European issues (OBCT).
Luc Gulner, Head of the Department for Strategic Communications and Information Analysis at the European External Action Service, said that disinformation is being discussed, but also how to preserve our democracies and open discourse.
"It's not about telling people what's right and what's wrong, but about protecting our citizens and democracies from manipulation and misleading interference. Disinformation is not a theoretical debate, it affects people's lives, it's a question about the whole of society, not just governments," he said.
The two-day internet seminar gathered more than 100 participants, representatives of regional organizations, government institutions and the media, who had the opportunity to discuss the impact of misinformation from different angles.
The seminar on "Tackling the challenges posed by disinformation in the Western Balkans" was organized by the Council for Regional Cooperation and supported by OBCT, the European Center of Excellence for Combating Hybrid Threats and the European External Action Service.
As the participants pointed out, disinformation can refer to external interference and hybrid threats, given that information operations are used to delegitimize democratic processes or hold public debate on a particular topic. Finding appropriate responses to minimize the impact of disinformation should be part of a comprehensive security strategy.
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