On Saturday October 21st, the first episode of the fact-checking programme “Fact or Fake” presented by EURACTIV’s journalist Frédéric Simon, was broadcasted on France 24. It is about fighting misinformation.
This programme is part of the show “TALKING EUROPE”, and was developed in partnership with EURACTIV. Focusing on police violence in Catalonia and the misleading images posted on Twitter, this first episode showed the importance of the reliability and credibility of sources.
According to Frédéric Simon (), such initiative is necessary since “in the digital age, information is circulating faster and faster, and journalists sometimes lack the necessary perspective to sort it. This column, in collaboration with France 24, focuses on decoding the news, through articles that circulated on the internet, rumors relayed by tweets or statements of political figures. Of course, we are interested in “fake news” but also in rumors, and misleading or distorted information by word-of-mouth.”
In order to tackle misinformation at the European level, the Digital Commissioner Mariya Gabriel announced the setting up of an expert group on fake news to start mid-2018. She identified the sharing of best practices and coordination mechanisms to respond to the spreading of false information.
Indeed, media have to deal with the viral power of fake news and the “filter bubble” effect of online platforms. Key issues may be to assess the reliability of sources and promote trusted journalism.