5 key points from the World Press Freedom Day global conference
Disinformation, it bears emphasizing, is actively hostile to the truth
Apologies for the late dispatch this week. It was a hectic week of events and fora for World Press Freedom Day. The next newsletter will be out next Friday as scheduled.
UNESCO marked the 30th World Press Freedom Day this week at a conference centered in Windhoek, Namibia—the same place where, in 1991, journalists and their allies declared that "the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation and for economic development."
As panels talked about keeping the media alive in the face of severe economic challenges and threats to press freedom, the conference also held sessions and panels on the "increasing proliferation, amplification and promotion of […] disinformation and hate speech."
Here are some key takeaways from three sessions, including the Asia and Pacific forum, on disinformation and how some journalists are addressing it.
Disinformation is antagonistic to truth
Disinformation, UNESCO's Guy Berger said, should not be seen to be in peaceful coexistence with information. Berger is director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO.
"Disinformation hinders freedom of opinion and expression and it is being used to intimidate and harass journalists and human rights defenders," he said, adding that it is "intrinsically antagonistic to truth and to truth-tellers."
He said that disinformation "can be seductive, simplistic, conspiratorial, emotive and polarizing," which makes it attractive to the public, which he also said is not yet aware of how disinformation affects information.
Ambassador Rauno Merisaari of Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, referring to a November joint statement by the Freedom Online Coalition, said disinformation "can fracture community cohesion and polarize societies" and that it is a crime in Finland if disinformation incites hatred.
"State-sponsored actors and authoritarian regimes have disseminated disinformation to create erosion of trust in public information and in democratic institutions," he also said.
Finland is chair of the Freedom Online Coalition, a partnership of 32 governments working to advance freedoms online.
The erosion of that trust can have dire consequences during infodemics like the one that has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Sylvie Briand of the World Health Organization said at a separate forum. Hoax cures, like taking methanol to kill the coronavirus, has caused deaths in Iran, she said.
"Infodemics fuel distrust. If people don't trust the interventions, if they don't want to comply with recommendations, then it's very hard to stop the transmission of the disease," she said. "Anything that fuels distrust will potentially harm the response."
Wrong information has also led to polarization of society. In some areas, she said, the belief that the pandemic was spreading mostly among the elderly led to a stigma that "undermined the cohesiveness of society."
She said that pandemics bring fear and uncertainty, making people more vulnerable to the tsunami of disinformation and misinformation that follows.
Berger said that journalism remains among the best methods to address disinformation. Journalism, he said, is "key to surfacing in public space and with expected standards the kind of information that is very distinct from disinformation."
"It is key not just as an alternative (to disinformation) but it is key to debunking it."
READ: Freedom Online Joint Statement on Spread of Disinformation Online
Allowing hate speech threatens freedom of expression
Although concerns against censorship are valid, Dr. Julie Posetti of the International Center for Journalists said that platforms cannot allow unfettered speech, especially when it comes to threats and harassment of women.
Posetti previously wrote a case study on the online harassment and threats against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and has released a related report on threats against women journalists.
"When they say free speech, in practice this seems to mean unfettered speech. But freedom of expression requires respect for media freedom and for access to information and for journalists' safety," she said.
When social media platforms fail to do that, she said, "ultimately what you're doing is undermining everybody's right to know, the safety and security of public interest conversations and the pillars of democracy."
She said that taking a hands-off approach to disinformation and hate speech "[is] an argument that is used to defend profits and defend failures in the design of platforms."
Ressa, who was at the same UNESCO-World Summit on the Information Society, said that the platforms designed their technology for profit and that many governments have exploited both the technology and the profit motive.
She said that states want power and manipulate the technology to get it while "tech platforms are for profit and manipulate us as a byproduct."
Ressa said that regulations need to be in place because disinformation as well as information and influence operations destroy trust.
READ: The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists
Platforms must do more, be more transparent
Social media platforms need to be more transparent and need to be more responsive to local concerns, Dr. Minjeon Kim, a professor of media and communication at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said at the Asia and Pacific forum.
She said that the public "barely knows" how decisions—on takedowns and account suspensions, for example—are reached. Although platforms release transparency reports, these usually only show the number of cases handled and not how individual decisions were reached.
She added that queries and concerns directed to a social media platform's office in Korea are often directed to the headquarters in the US. This has led to instances when content that is illegal in Korea were allowed on the platform and vice versa, she said.
Platforms need to provide clear explanations on content policy and on what they're doing to fight against hate speech. "We need to be aware of the biases of the algorithm, ask for a clear explanation on content standards when they apply their content policy," she said.
Seema Mustafa, editor-in-chief of The Citizen online newspaper in India, said that mass reporting can lead to takedowns even if content doesn't contain disinformation or hate speech.
"The good is treated at par with the bad if there are many complaints. We need to sit down and look at this very, very seriously."
READ: Balancing Act: Countering Digital Disinformation while respecting Freedom of Expression
Better for regulation to come from community than governments
Mustafa said that one approach could be for standards at the worldwide, regional, and local levels but that these standards should come from the community of users themselves.
She said the internet is an "amazing space" and has given people across the world more of a voice. Although regulations are needed, "it must not come from the government."
"This is a citizens' space. The strength is that it gives citizens a voice, so these rules should come from among citizens," she said.
On the global level, she said, "there has to be zero tolerance for hate and abuse and revenge porn" and other forms of online abuse.
Regional standards, meanwhile, must take into account political realities like whether governments in a certain region tend to be repressive or engage in disinformation operations against journalists, human rights defenders, and activists,
"Governments are using this to bring all kinds of rules and regulations to 'protect citizens against hate speech and fake news'," she said, adding that the same governments then use hate speech and "fake news" against their citizens.
Finnish Ambassador Merisaari stressed at a separate forum that "all efforts in preventing disinformation must be in compliance with international human rights law."
He said that states should "avoid adopting legislation that will stop people and civic organizations from sharing information."
Posetti noted that at the WSIS panel that "states [have been] cracking down on disinformation on COVID-19 in a way that has restricted press freedom and other forms of legitimate expression."
Media and Information Literacy must be more accessible
Although activities like fact-checking are important, journalists and educators must make sure that their efforts reach more of the public, especially those in remote areas who may be more vulnerable to disinformation, panelists at the Asia and Pacific forum said.
Dr. Ray Wang of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication of Thammasat University in Thailand said that many MIL activities are held in and around Bangkok.
"Who are we leaving out? Are they able to access it easily? How else can we provide these materials to them," he said, adding that groups should consider holding workshops "in the middle of nowhere" to reach more people.
He also suggested working directly with communities and finding people whom the communities respect or will listen to.
"We know what the issues are, but they're not going to listen until you find the role model or influencer from that community," he said, adding these training workshops should not focus on telling communities why they may be wrong for believing "fake news" and should instead teach them how to spot disinformation and misinformation.
Ika Ningtyas, secretary-general of the Alliance of Independent Journalists in Indonesia (AJI), said that her group has also been working with universities to train Media and Information Literacy "agents in every small group and family."
These students, she said, can "bring the issue to small communities in every region in Indonesia" and teach their families to, for example, check the information they are getting on WhatsApp messages. This also helps AJI keep track of what rumors and disinformation might require fact-checking.
Ritu Kapur, CEO of Quintillion Media, highlighted a similar approach at the WSIS-hosted panel, saying their news website The Quint, is going for a more participative process for media literacy.
She said this is necessary "when the state is vindictively propelling fake news as a means to propaganda, building vote banks and completely brainwashing a country."
The Quint has media literacy content aimed at women in the family, Kapur said, adding that a "sanitized fact check is not going to work" with some audiences.
She said The Quint uses "a character who is a chatty character" to bring the women of the family into the conversation and to make sure information reaches them.
"We're trying to be as emotional and aggressive [as disinformation campaigns] in our format," she said.
Quintillion Media also does "narrowcasts," she said, where its teams go to remote areas to deliver content and to collect feedback.