The second edition of the international conference European Agora for Journalism “Artificial Intelligence, the Media, Europe and Me” was organized by Journalisme & Citoyenneté Association and the Institute for Higher Social Communication Studies (IHECS) and took place in Brussels between November 20 and 22. The forum brought together information professionals, journalists, managers, academics, students and teachers from the 27 member states of the European Union to reflect on the conditions for quality journalism in Europe with a specific focus on the impact of AI, disinformation and its relation to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Dr. Rumena Filipova moderated the panel “Information warfare: Lessons from the conflict in Ukraine”, which featured presentations by Mariia Bohdanovska, digital analyst for Rubryka; Massimo Flore, researcher and disinformation specialist; Anne Leppäjärvi, executive board member of the International Press Institute and President of EJTA; Alina Tatarenko, Head of Division for Cooperation on Freedom of Expression, Council of Europe. Four sets of key topics of discussion and related conclusions emerged:
- Pre-bunking has established itself as an effective approach, given that Russian disinformation can be predicted in advance. It tends to sow doubt within societies without, however, offering an alternative. Rubryka’s focus on cooperation with readers and sharing stories contributes to an engaged demystification of Russian narratives.
- Safeguarding cognitive security is a key counter-disinformation domain since Kremlin propaganda targets people’s deepest emotional, identity and fear-based instincts, while capitalizing on attention deficit.
- Media literacy is critical since it concerns national and global security. To foster it, we need to take a qualitative approach that challenges formalistic criteria of democracy and a free press that are frequently employed by autocratic governments in order to maintain a democratic facade.
- International cooperation is an important component in the fight against disinformation. The Council of Europe, for example, offers assistance to member states to create information integrity and is also instrumental in terms of helping EU candidate states meet media freedom requirements.