“Youth acting against fake news”: a project with information and debates on detecting and combating fake news

From curing COVID with garlic to the 5G chip vaccines, and on to the „de-nazification” of Ukraine are just a few steps in the direction of disinformation that any of us can take without realizing it.

Young people are among the most exposed groups to „fake news”, which is why journalists are helping to combat this phenomenon: G4Media is running a project from July to November 2022, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, dedicated to informing young people about the dangers of fake news and the steps to correctly identify it.

The aim of the project is to involve young school and university students in detecting and combating fake news.

„Misinformation and fake news are a major danger for young people today because of the effects they can cause in both their personal lives and the life of society as a whole. We felt it was our duty as journalists to guide young people so that they do not fall into the traps of misinformation, which is increasingly present in the public sphere,” says Cristian Pantazi, editor-in-chief of G4Media.ro.

«The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine illustrate that providing the public with accurate information is crucial to beat fake news. Helping the young generation in distinguishing fake news from facts is especially important and I am therefore pleased to support the “Youth acting against fake news” initiative. », says Roelof Sander van Ees, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Romania.

The project will organise three debates in three cities across the country and a final event with conclusions in Bucharest. In the country, information meetings and discussions with young people will take place in October in high schools or universities and will be partnered by local media publications.

Why it is important to recognise fake news, a brief history of its evolution in Romania after 1990, the channels of propagation, the factors influencing its spread, how to avoid the pitfalls of misinformation – these are the main topics of discussion.

The first debate will be organised in Alba Iulia, at the „Mihai Viteazul” National Military College, on 4 October, in partnership with the local publication Alba24.

This will be followed by the debates in Cluj-Napoca – at Babeș-Bolyai University, in partnership with the publication Actual de Cluj, and in Constanța – at Ovidius University in Constanța, in partnership with Info Sud-Est, the Faculty of History and Political Science (FISP), the Faculty of Letters – specialising in Journalism and the Students’ Association of Constanța (AEC).

For details on the debates we suggest you to follow the website G4Media.ro, the section dedicated to this project: https://www.g4media.ro/anti-fake-news where information on the issue of fake news and on the activities of the project will be constantly published.

Young people taking part in the debates, but also any other young people who want to be involved in this broad debate will be able to actively participate by submitting examples of fake news they have noticed in the public space.

A discussion summarising the impressions and conclusions from the three local debates and highlighting the main issues concerning young people’s exposure to fake news will take place in November in Bucharest.

The first debate will take place in Alba Iulia, at the National Military College „Mihai Viteazul”, on 4 October.

Translated article