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Combatting disinformation: exploring the options

(8.30 – 9.30am PT, 11.30am – 12.30pm EST)

This event has passed. You can watch it below:

There is an urgency to address misinformation and combat disinformation as it is increasingly used to manipulate the natural cognitive predispositions of human beings and to exacerbate prejudices, biases, and ideological differences. Alternative facts are pushed to advance political positions based on outright falsehoods and disinformation is a tool used to target and exploit human insecurities and vulnerabilities, eroding the trust and cohesion on which civilised societies rely. But how can we reverse the damage and prevent disinformation from spreading?

The International Observatory of Human Rights and the International Center for Journalists invite you to a webinar exploring the tools and options that exist to combat disinformation. What actions are the media industry and online platforms taking and how can trust in the media be increased? On a national level, how are governments tackling this issue and what legislative options are available?

These are just some of the questions this webinar will delve into and we encourage all participants to send us any questions they’d like answered to this email address: [email protected].

Speakers

Moderator: Dr Julie Posetti, Global Director of Research at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)

Dr Julie Posetti is an Australian journalist, Global Director of Research at the International Center for Journalists and Research Associate at the Reuters Institute at Oxford University. She researches at the intersection of journalism, digital media, and freedom of expression. Posetti is the author of Protecting Journalism Sources in the Digital Age (UNESCO 2017) and the co-editor of Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation (UNESCO 2018).

Damian Collins MP

Damian Collins has been the Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe since the 2010 general election. He was the Chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee from October 2016 to November 2019 and oversaw the committee’s disinformation and ‘fake news’ inquiry. He is the co-founder and host of The Infotagion, a podcast about the spread of disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Guy Berger, Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO

Guy Berger is Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO. He is responsible for the Organization’s global work on press freedom, safety of journalists, internet freedom, media pluralism and independence, gender and media, media and information literacy, and journalism education. Before joining UNESCO, he headed the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.

Sally Lehrman, Chief Executive of the Trust Project

Sally Lehrman is an award-winning journalist, founded and leads the Trust Project, an international collaboration to strengthen public confidence in the news through accountability and transparency. The consortium, which involves about 100 news organizations, has created a set of digital standards called “Trust Indicators” that help the public and news distribution platforms easily identify reliable news sites. Lehrman was named one of MediaShift’s Top 20 Digital Innovators in 2018 for this work.

Join the discussion and let #TruthBeTold

This webinar is the second in a series produced by the International Observatory of Human Rights focussing on disinformation and its implications on human rights. If you missed the first one, co-hosted with the International Center for Journalists, you can find the recording of it here.