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In the fight against disinformation, it is necessary to unite the forces of different institutions and stakeholders. A discussion on how to do so was held at the conference “DIGIRES: We know how disinformation works. But what’s next?”, which took place on December 6, at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). This key issue was discussed by a team of academics and media representatives under the DIGIRES initiative, together with experts from various fields, such as education, culture, and library network.
“Although we represent different fields, we are working towards the same goal. Only by sharing expert knowledge can we move forward, create added value, and discover ways to learn to live surrounded by disinformation. Together we are stronger”, said Auksė Balčytienė, DIGIRES project manager and senior researcher, professor at the Department of Public Communication (VMU), and chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Media and Information Literacy for Inclusive Knowledge Societies (VMU).
The Vice Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania Vygintas Gasparavičius expressed how happy he was that the conference was dedicated to discussing the topics and problems that are relevant not only on a national or European, but also on a global scale. According to him, diagnosing the problems is not enough though – it is crucial to find drugs for treating those problems.
The main issues identified during the discussion are that people’s trust in the news media is decreasing, and they are unable to distinguish professional journalistic content from amateur content. In addition, the conference paid great attention to the issue of regions and the propaganda carried out by Russia.
However, as all participants agreed, science and discussions alone will not solve the problem – cooperation between different institutions is necessary. The participants of the discussion unequivocally agreed that we must, first of all, start with ourselves – develop our own media literacy.
Among the most important goals named during the discussion were creating trust in the state, professional news media, and teachers, developing critical thinking, teaching media literacy, and continuing the practice of fact-checking.
During the conference, the DIGIRES association, together with representatives of organizations, institutions, and other niches interested in combating disinformation, tried to set ambitious goals for joint activities for 2023. According to the organizers, the four most important words to take away from the event are these: doubt, trust, education, and responsibility.
The publication was prepared by Kristina Berksun, translated by Aistė Turčinavičiūtė
