How To Deal With Disinformation During War. An investigative and fact-checking perspective

In these times of war and increasing disinformation campaigns, the work of both fact-checkers and investigative journalists plays a key role in effectively countering propaganda and false narratives. This webinar includes both an investigative and a fact-checking perspective on dealing with disinformation during war. How can journalists report on disinformation and not amplify it? How can we increase the impact of fact-checking? What would be the optimal relationship between fact-checking organizations and journalists / media outlets?

Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine have seen a rise in disinformation, with false narratives increasingly spreading via the internet and social media channels.

In this webinar, we hear about different strategies for dealing with disinformation during war, from the perspective of investigative journalist Anna Gielewska and fact-checker Ilya Ber. They discuss how to increase the impact of fact-checking, and how to reach an optimal collaboration between fact-checking organizations and journalists/media outlets.

From the fact-checking side, Ilya Ber speaks about:

• Fact-checking in modern Russia: when saying the truth becomes a serious crime.
• Top false narratives in Russian state propaganda.
• Top false narratives in Ukrainian social media.
• Countering propaganda effectively: is that possible?
• How the COVID-19 Infodemic continues in the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022.

Investigative journalist Anna Gielewska addresses:

• Disinformation operations in Poland and Central Europe - how Russia tries to undermine support for Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees.
• The main narratives, methods, distribution channels, and tools used by disinformation actors and Russia supporters.
• Large-scale, long-term influence operations (cyber espionage and disinformation campaigns) - a Ghostwriter example.
• Reporting on disinformation without amplifying it - How should journalists/mainstream media label disinformation and propaganda? Do we need a standardized approach?
• How to hold social media platforms accountable?

Speakers

Ilya Ber

Ilya Ber was born and lived in Moscow; he is now based in Tallinn. He graduated from the Russian State University on Humanities as a historian and worked for 15 years as TV-editor for Russian quiz-shows (10 years as editor-in-chief for ‘How To Be A Millionaire’). At the same time he worked in journalism for BBC Russian Service, RIA Novosti and other media outlets. In 2020 he was an author and presenter in the weekly fact-checking section Provereno on the international RTVi TV channel. The same year 2020 he launched Provereno.media, a non-profit fact-checking project for the Russian speaking internet community. Now he works as an editor-in-chief for Provereno and as fact-checker for Delfi.ee.

Anna Gielewska

Anna Gielewska is a vice-chairman of the Reporters Foundation, the first Polish investigative nonprofit. She is co-founder of frontstory.pl and vsquare.org, a regional cross-border network in Central Europe. She specializes in investigating disinformation operations. As a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University (2019/20), she developed a project on countering organized disinformation through strengthening cross-functional collaborations. Previously she covered politics for leading newspapers in Poland.

Sanita Jemberga (moderator)

Sanita Jemberga has worked in the press and television since 1996. After a brief stint at the European Commission, Sanita returned to journalism in 2014 and now serves as the executive director and editor at The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica. She used to head Latvian Journalists Association and represents Latvia at UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication. She regularly teaches investigative journalism, newsroom management and other subjects with OSCE, UNESCO, SSE Riga, Thomson Reuters Foundation and others. When she has time, Sanita scripts documentaries.

About the Organiser

Tactical Tech is an international non-profit organisation that engages with citizens and civil-society organisations to explore and mitigate the impacts of technology on society. Exposing the Invisible is a Tactical Tech project that develops resources, training and collaborations promoting investigation as one of the most important forms of public engagement.

This event is part of the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI) project co-funded by the European Commission under the Pilot Project: "Supporting investigative journalism and media freedom in the EU" (DG CONNECT).

This text reflects the author’s view and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.