ORANGE MAGAZINE GMF 2017
1 JUNE 2017 Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2017 - Identity and Diversity
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WELCOME TO ORANGE MAGAZINE! EDITORIAL There is no better way to move forward than building on identity and diversity to foster understanding in today’s society. The media, like any part of a functioning democracy, has a big responsibility to facilitate a healthy dialogue— one that recognizes a spectrum of perspectives is necessary to develop critical thinking and that everyone’s right to freedom of expression comes with a huge responsibility not to resort to disrespecting the rights of another. Editor-in-chief Anna Valmero, Philippines Design / Photography Gabriel d’Alincourt, Brazil Journalists Triin Ilves, Estonia Dobriyana Tropankeva, Bulgaria Irene Dominioni, Italy Writings and comments of any contributor do not necessarily reflect that of Orange Magazine. Find more on orangemagazine.eu
Front and Back Cover Photo Gabriel d’Alincourt Front Cover Installation Kevin McElvaney the-mirror-project.org
The wave of attacks to identity, race and faith through propagandist rhetoric has been fuelling distrust, fear and hate thus, creating a culture of dispute that often leads to conflict and worse, even the building of walls that cause divisions, physical and otherwise. Some believe the global political shifts such as in the recent US elections show how the media failed to do its part in terms of shying away from the usual identity-driven coverage, instead of dedicating more time and space for stories that focus on the impact and consequences of electing a candidate. A more optimistic
outlook on the situation is that it is only a signal that people are hungry for change—and this is where the media can step up and double down its efforts to learn from it and adapt to become better. One way to do so is to capitalize on creating more engagement with citizens and maintaining the link with civil society, especially the connected youth. Forming social media teams to engage audiences and recognizing user-generated content when a big event happens on-ground, visiting schools for media literacy projects, and always re-examining methods to do things better using new tools and new ideas are some ways forward. Differences in perspective should not cause divisions but rather add another lens of context to understanding issues. It is only in respecting and nurturing diversity that we can truly define our identity. This year’s edition of the Global Media Forum is a collaborative work of young media makers who are relentless in their pursuit to learn from both veterans in the field as well as their peers. Read on and we hope these pages capture the inspiration from our seasoned veterans and young ones to keep growing, and to keep on keeping on.
Anna Valmero Editor-in-chief
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European Youth Press The European Youth Press (EYP) is an umbrella organisation for young journalists in Europe. The EYP reaches more than 60,000 young journalists across Europe with 25 member organisations and several working groups, forming a solid volunteer and professional infrastructure. It is a democratic, non-profit organisation founded and managed by young media makers all between 20 and 30 years of age. The European Youth Press aims to enable young people to give voice to their opinion on issues in their country and how it relates to the global media landscape by providing access to attend and cover global conferences.
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GRASSROOTS JOURNALISM PLATFORMS AMPLFY MARGINAL VOICES
Orange Magazine Orange Magazine was a journal founded by the European Youth Press in 2004. It caters to an international audience of English readers to address the gap of limited content produced by young Europeans that can be shared with youth outside the region. It is available in both print and online editions. All print and online editions of Orange Magazine are published on www.orangemagazine.eu, with PDF copies of print issues available for download, too.
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FIND YOUR #MOJO
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THE LONG ROAD TO INTEGRATION: THE MEDIA BETWEEN POPULIST TALK AND THE NEED FOR NEW FORMATS
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is an annual gathering of media practitioners hosted by the international broadcasting company and long-time partner of the European Youth Press and Orange Magazine.
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DISINFORMATION IS SHAPING EUROPE, RE-ENGAGE THE READERS WITH THE FACTS
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IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA: MEDIA NEEDS TO BE MORE VIGILANT THOSE WHO ARE PERCEIVED AS RELIABLE NEWS SOURCES WILL PREVAIL IN THE LONG RUN.
Journalists must redouble efforts to publish fact-based reporting in an era wherein hate speech, filter bubbles and fake news are causing dramatic shifts worldwide. “News based on factual reporting is not fake and not based on opinion-driven propaganda and manipulation,” said Amanda Bennett, Voice of America director, during the opening plenary of Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, with the theme, Identity and Diversity. “That requires slowing down, doing the research on-ground legwork and being relentless in seeking the other side of the story,” Bennett said.
With social media platforms, 3D virtual stories, computer bots, and news aggregators revolutionizing the way people consume information and produce content, the need for traditional journalism values and skills is needed more than ever, Bennett explained. And as such, journalism schools need to focus more on training young journalists on media literacy. But the responsibility to promote truth to the greater public does not reside alone to on the shoulders of journalists, who have traditionally served as the fourth pillar of democracy, and act as political watchdogs for decades, said Jason Hannan, associate professor in University of Winnipeg. “We should be able to open up citizen engagement to avoid creating more paranoia,” Hannan said.
Citizen engagement is one way to address the matter, Hannan noted, and in tandem with social media literacy, these two make media professionals more responsible in creating and delivering content in order to better inform audiences. Assistant Director-General of UNESCO Frank La Rue noted, that access to information is relevant to key issues of the day and it is not only human rights or democracy issue – it is a development issue. “We need to build peace out of diversity and differences by enhancing knowledge and understanding through clear communications. A difference in opinion should not lead to insults or criticisms. You can have different stands on issues and have a friendly, respectful dialogue,” La Rue explained. “We cannot deny the reality of diversity. What we need is to discover the benefit of diversity of ideas and identities to promote better understanding,” he added. To further enrich the discussion, Hannan urged media outlets and news organizations to “host dialogues so people with different perspectives can have a civil conversation, not verbal boxing matches” often characteristic of “he-said, she-said” type of coverages.
PETER LIMBOURG, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF DEUTSCHE WELLE 4
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FRANK WILLIAM LA RUE, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO
Meanwhile, media censorships, especially done by governments such as in Turkey today not only stifle voices or harm human rights, they also create stronger divisions and disenfranchises marginal groups. On another front, media attacks through direct criticisms and branding professional media outlets as fake and “the enemy of the people” as seen in the US, for example, is a huge threat today. Freedom of Speech awardee Jeff Mason, President of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said that journalists have the responsibility not to be distracted by such rhetorics. “We simply have to go to work everyday and report on how this administration is governing.”
penetrate that cocoon” so people will listen to factual reporting and understand what is actually happening, Fouda said. “There is a good opportunity for serious journalists to find a niche to address polarization and to seek facts,” Fouda added.
Anna Valmero
“The media can make a stand to fight this with the ABC’s of journalism: by producing stories with Accuracy, Balance and Clarity”, said Yosri Fouda, editor of The Fifth Estate at Deutsche Welle.
Photos: Gabriel d’Alincourt
The polarization of society today “drives people to enter a cocoon that pushes them to hear only what they want to hear and the problem or question right now is how to
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THE DEUTSCHE WELLE GLOBAL MEDIA FORUM 2017
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Identity and Diversity is the main theme of this year's conference that brings together key issues faced by media in a post-truth era where fact-based reporting and balanced news are required skills more than ever by journalists to fight misinformation, populism and propagandist rhetoric.
Gabriel d’Alincourt
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GRASSROOTS JOURNALISM PLATFORMS AMPLIFY MARGINAL VOICES In the age of rapidly renewing online tools, grassroots journalism projects stick strong with the traditional values and fact-based objective reporting. In countries facing extremism, grassroots activists and journalists are seen as reformers who employ innovative online media tools to counter anti-democratic practices. Many of them have proven, that the most powerful weapon is to provide objective, facts-based reporting, said Emin Milli, Managing Director of MeydanTV, an independent online media for Azerbaijan. Milli, together with Karam Nachar, Executive Director, AlJumhuriya Collective, and Polina Cupcea, freelance journalist and founder of Oameni si Kilometri, are using media platforms that help foster democratic transition in their native countries. When diversity is seen as a taboo, their stories, often developed and written over a long period of time, become strong blocks in the overall storytelling narrative. “Storytelline is not a new concept, but it’s new for the Moldovan public,” Cupcea said. In Syria’s case, Nachar explained, they help rebuild national identity. In a society where the ruling regime is restricting free speech up to a point that people become afraid to share their stories, the platform Al-Jumhuriya, offers a way to push against that fear. “We emphasize a countermove,” he added.
From ‘powerless’ to empowered Often, new grassroots platforms turn to classical storytelling in order to maintain their safety. Both Nachar and Milli emphasized, that mobile devices allow us to share information fast, but nowadays it’s almost impossible to publish anonymously – something that may cost a life in extremist societies.
of 500,000 monthly readers to a fifth only. Readers turned to VPNs to access the platform. To further distribute content, a magazine layout of the text articles are being produced so people can read and share them over social media. Notably, without the censorship from government, MEydanTV’s social media followers are increasing continuously.
Alternatives are harsh: Milli explained, journalists can face harassments or Polina Cupcea said in Moldova, even with less harsh censorships, independent and investigative journalists, and mainstream media reporters struggle with access to information, making it more difficult to guarantee fact-based reporting.
kidnapping threats, even abroad. Milli, too, spent some time in jail. And in societies where government officials get away with direct terror against their people, the counteraction is not perceived as something outstanding. “I don’t believe that we are heroes – we aim to protect our dignity,” Milli said. Due to strict government censorship, his project – MeydanTV website – has faced a significant drop from a total 8
Both the Moldovan and Syrian platforms work with long-form stories and take extra time than traditional outlets to publish stories. And it has its purpose, especially to avoid misinformation by virtue of traditional journalism values of validating and counterchecking information from both regular staffers and contributors.
Triin Ilves Estonia
Gabriel d’Alincourt
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS IMPORTANT MORE THAN EVER “WE WANT FREEDOM OF SPEECH TO BE A UNIVERSAL RIGHT.”
“Since 2013, the global indicator of media freedom has fallen by 14%, and this global trend doesn’t stop within European borders,” says Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe. An example is political satirist Jan Böhmermann, sued in Germany by Turkish President Erdogan for reading an allegedly insulting poem about the president on his show.
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However, Turkey is not the only example
of media freedom violations. “Even here in Germany, the enemies of press freedom are at work,” says Limbourg. Among them, there are right-wing populists, who promote intolerance and racism through the media.
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This was the core message of Peter Limbourg, Director General of Deutsche Welle at this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum.The central topics the forum wants to get across are digitalisation, global reporting, international crises and the way media cover them. “In the heart of the EU, press freedom cannot be taken for granted,” Limbourg continues. “The end of the freedom of expression is also the beginning of the end of democracy. There are simply no more excuses when this point is reached.” Among the biggest problems media face today is the increasing pressure on journalists, and the continuing struggle for liberty and freedom. With journalists facing new challenges each day, they have to adapt to the expectations of the digital age while remaining independent and balanced in their coverage. The other issue the journalists face is the new wave of fake news and propaganda, which surfaces the media today.
of European Parliament, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff. He says media propaganda is a big issue and it cannot be addressed with counterpropaganda. “Media diversity is also declining due to economic constraints, and all of us are called upon to confront this problem,” says Franz-Josef LerschMense, Minister for Federal Affairs, Europe and the Media in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Burak Sayin Turkey
“There is a growing distrust in the public toward the established standards of the traditional media.The question is how can media reestablish trust with the public?” says Vice-President 9
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IDENTITY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: THE MIRROR PROJECT
“Tell us about a difficult situation you were in”, asks the paper that she is holding in her hand. “Uhm…” she sighs. “I had a difficult childhood, it’s hard to be raised without a father in our society. Also, when I was five, I saw a dog eating a dead body in the street, and that shocked me. Now I have grown up and I have seen many dead bodies”. The interview goes on with a few simple, but straightforward questions: tell us about the important things in your life, what is your current situation and how do you feel about it. Hannah answers every question calmly, but with a firm tone. Sometimes, her eyes get watery as she speaks. At the end, the last paper states “Look into the mirror and imagine your future”. She stares, letting the viewer on the other side imagine what she is thinking dreams, fears, possibilities. “The Mirror Project” is a creation of Kevin McElvaney, a German photographer who has worked, among others, for Vice, Wired, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera and the BBC. The project was developed in December 2016 and it entails 11 interviews carried out in various regions of Iraq, this country being chosen with the intent of showing life in the country other than war.
Foto: Personal Facebook Profile
On a screen, a young woman is portrayed in close-up, indistinct background. Her name is Hannah, she is 22 years old and she is half Kurdish and half Arabic from Iraq. She is being interviewed for an activity called “The Mirror Project”, but nobody else is in the room, just herself and her reflection.
KEVIN MCELVANEY
The setting is very simple, a space in a church, a tent in a refugee camp or a room in a military base, lights and a chair. The only necessary condition is for the interviewee to be alone. Personal questions are asked, and some people have a hard time looking directly at themselves. “Even if you ask simple things, it’s quite unique that they look in the mirror and talk to themselves, literally. The mirror is a psychological element somehow” Kevin tells Orange Magazine during the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. The final moment and the question about imagining one’s future is what accounts best for the capacity to deliver emotions through simple observation of expressions and eye movements. The idea draws on a theory by the psychologist Arthur Aron, who believed that an eye contact of four minutes 10
between strangers would establish a connection and fundamentally change the way people look at each other. At the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, Kevin is showcasing the project, and also replicating the experiment live with the participants that stop by, as they go back and forth in the corridor, between the rooms where the panels take place. “The questions asked are similar and the technique is the same” he tells Orange Magazine, “but it taps into the themes of the Forum, Identity and Diversity”. About 20 people have taken part into the experiment here at the World Conference Center Bonn . “The good thing about this project is that you can adapt the idea to other places. It would be interesting to do the interviews with the same
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Foto: Project website www.the-mirror-project.org
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HANNAH KAMAL IBRAHIM
people a few years later, or maybe in other crisis areas. Sometimes people don’t feel comfortable or are too shy to do it” Kevin says, “but if they do eventually, they are usually happy of having had the opportunity to experience something like this. Even though the questions are simple, you dig deep at the same time. So if the question “Who are you?” is relatively simple and people normally answer by saying their name and age, asking an open question like What are you? can be more challenging and people could answer by stating what their profession is, or by saying “a mother”, for example”. “When I was a child, I wanted to be a hero”, says Hannah from the screen. Maybe it’s because of her eyes, wide and kind, or because of the way she puts her dark and wavy hair behind her ear. Perhaps
it’s the smile or the way she raises her eyebrows while she speaks. Maybe it was just a matter of minutes, like Arthur Aron says. In the end, you feel that Hannah is one of those good people that you would always want to have around. She has become a friend. “I don’t have superpowers, that’s true, but it’s enough when I can make people happy”, she ends. She is not aware of it, but, somewhere far away, she has touched an interlocutor that she cannot even see. And delivered a message: that as long as we look into each other’s eyes, accepting and enjoying what makes us all different -- and yet all human -- will always be possible.
Irene Dominioni Italy
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AHMAD AL-BAZZ Young photojournalist and former Orange Magazine fellow Ahmad Al-Bazz* has been covering the political situation in his country, Palestine, by capturing the daily life of children and the elderly under the extended occupation that has left many to live in oppressed and uncertain conditions. In this photo series, Ahmad shows the struggles of his society and the resilience of his people, including a flash of hope when projects of cooperation such as the Sumud Freedom Camp in a place called Sarura can bring people together regardless of race, color and religion to build a safe place where people can stay in peace. This interview follows the journey of a photojournalist who documents in images the stories of the people in hi shome country often left untold in most media outlets. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. *Ahmad Al-Bazz was one of the Orange Magazine’s photographer fellows who covered the Global Media Forum 2015.
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Q: What was it like growing up in your home country? A: I was born in 1993, the year that shaped hope for a permanent solution for some Israelis and Palestinians after signing the Oslo Peace Accords, which was supposed to be a first step toward the so called “two-state solution” for both nations, Israel & Palestine, but that did not happen. When I was a child, I kept hearing stories of my grandparents denied entry to their properties after the creation of Israel in 1948. I didn’t see too much from the windows of our home. Mother was scared to let us out. I remember very well how our home was shaking whenever an Israeli tank passes from our street. The West Bank, where I live, is where 2.8 million unarmed Palestinian citizens live under Israeli military control – surrounded by walls, fences and military checkpoints. These days, many Palestinians are quiet despite the unfair system because it’s “stable” compared to the “black past.” All Palestinians, I think, have shaped their national identity out of the long term “struggle” against oppression and towards freedom. When I think of it, I realize that many in my country are unaware or have not imagine what it’s like to live in freedom and to have the dignity of your own identity.
Q: Why did you document the life of children in your home country?
Q: What’s the story on the recent freedom camp built by activists?
A: Most of these photographs might be not a priority for some photojournalists since they are may have less “news value” [for their media]. For example, my photograph shows of two Palestinian fourth-generation refugee children walking in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank beside two wall posters of Palestinian “martyrs.” Unknown to many, they are from fourth-generation refugees waiting for the implementation of their right of return since 1948, according to the United Nations’ general assembly resolution No. 194, that guarantees their return to their villages and towns from where they fled or were forced to leave by Israeli militant groups in 1948 and before.
A: In May 2017, hundreds of International Jewish activists (mostly from the US), anti-occupation Israelis and Palestinians came together to establish the “Sumud Freedom Camp” (“sumud” is Arabic for steadfastness). It is located in Sarura, a former Palestinian village in West Bank home to people expelled by Israeli forces between 1980 and 1998. Organizers said the “camp will stand until the families can return to their homes.” It’s dubbed one of the biggest anti-occupation Jewish delegation that came to protest on the occupied ground.
Sometimes, conflicts can lead to hatred toward diversity. Another photo shows Palestinian students sit in their classroom, as a paper with Arabic writing that reads “prisoner Mohammed Tamimi,” a 15-yo youth in West Bank. I totally understand that journalists can’t run after each single arrest in this occupied country, since they are too many to count. Let me mention that each year some 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, according to the Defense For Children International. The most common charge is stone throwing.
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In the daytime, activists worked together to reclaim land, rebuild ancestral homes, rehabilitate historic wells and advance the livelihood of the villagers. As we speak, the camp has been raided thrice so activists are rehabilitating the caves nearby. This joint action is a strong and brilliant positive message that it’s okay to take a stand and show action for a cause you believe in, even if that requires a confrontation with people who may be similar to you in religion or nationality but with opposing views. Anna Valmero Philippines
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FIND YOUR #MOJO We can use social media to create meaningful content
Carrying a camera hooked to a glass bottle and wearing a smart glass fitted with a video recorder, CNN’s senior social producer Yusuf Omar enters the plenary of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2017 to share how he became a mobile journalist or #mojo. Talking from experience, he used social media platforms to broadcast what he is seeing on the ground – the stories of people he met across war-torn Syria and marginalized groups such as Indian rape survivors often left behind in major news stories as he hitchhiked across countries armed with his smartphone and a thirst for knowing what is happening and sharing it to others.
“I see social media as a black canvas to develop [a story] more,” said Omar,” through a unique combination of video, text, geolocation and other elements, for example. These details can help direct media to new stories on the ground, authenticate information with extra details and involve the audience to help tell the story using user-generated content.
Foto: Gabriel d’Alincourt
The beauty of social media lies in the platform’s unique ability to integrate many layers of information and its aspect of enabling people to share content and their own reactions or comments in real-time. MOBILE JOURNALISM KEYNOTE
“Let’s use social media to transcend broadcasting. Now is the best time to empower communities with the creation of verified content,” said Omar. On this, University of Winnipeg associate professor Jason Hannan
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urged schools to implement social media literacy programs in order to better understand the ways on how to use it more effectively as a journalism tool.
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7 tips to become a mobile journalist #mojo 1. Remove the Z’s in your workflow
Often, a story undergoes several steps before it gets published and this means involving several persons and different teams. But thinking outside the box such as having news policies that vary depending on the story content or not frowning upon shaky videos of a warzone from a handheld smartphone are possible ways on how to treat new content generated using social media tools.
Ask first: What are the apps and devices that can better serve the team? Weigh in the pros and cons of using a smartphone versus a traditional bulky camera, for example.
Photo: Gabriel d’Alincourt
2. Survey the newsroom for devices and apps
YUSUF OMAR, SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCER CNN
3. Cut the fat: choose the best format
6. Change the format
Identify the formats that will work best with engaging your audience and develop ways on how to work better. The same goes with identifying devices that are effective for creating content that you want.
Social media is not TV so don’t treat it like one. Understand what works with the audience and experiment with different formats like vertical shots or shorter 10-second video reports.
4. Gamify the newsroom and give rewards
7. Pick a mobile journalism day
Provide incentives to journalists who can produce fact-based, quality and engaging content with gear and access to new platforms.
Choose a day (Mobile Journalism Monday is one) to train everyone in the newsroom and equip them with skills so they can cover on the ground when a big story happens.
5. Build a priority pyramid
Identify the stories you want to focus on and build content from there.
Anna Valmero and Dobriyana Tropankeva Philippines and Bulgaria
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DISINFORMATION IS SHAPING EUROPE, RE-ENGAGE THE READERS WITH THE FACTS Members of the European media are facing a difficult challenge: how to get past the trolls and free the readers from Kremlin influence. When current media channels fail to win the readers abroad with fact-based reporting and objective journalism, how to present news in a more compelling manner? In 2014, when Ukraine blocked 14 Russian TV channels from its cable networks to stop them from spreading war propaganda stories, many international organizations took it as a threat to open society. However, at the local level, this was seen as a critical but necessary measure to decrease the proRussian view of the conflict broadcasted over Russian television news, Deutsche Welle’s correspondent Frank Hofmann explained. Interia’s manager of news section Ewelina Karpinska-Morek added that it is important to see behind the content: are the talking heads speaking about a subject that you are interested in or do they actually have an answer that defines their own discourse.
With 22 satellites and over 230 operators, the channel is broadcasted to 700 million people in more than 100 countries. Some perceive the news as complete fiction. Nonetheless, Antelava said that Kremlin is allowed to have as many media channels as they want.
Natalia Antelava, co-founder and CEO of Coda Story said that the general European media might be good with spotting fake news or fake comments, but the real victory comes when we take over their agenda. Even the “green men” or the inability to define the Russian armed forces on foreign ground is an example of how the western media has already lost a battle.
What is important is to understand why they have that many viewers and readers, she noted. “Traditional media needs to find more compelling ways of putting their narratives across.”
Kremlin policies are affecting the region, the overall discourse and narrative, she noted. “It’s a system of pressing buttons. It’s a problem that is quite easy to tackle with good journalism,” Antelava added.
Hofmann noted that one of the reasons causing a lot of uncertainty is the Western European’s bleak understanding of the whole Eastern block. “To many western European countries, eastern Europe is still a black box.”
News channels such as RT (previously Russia Today) and Sputnik are built to have a strong international grasp.
Initiatives like the East StratCom Task Force that was set up to address Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaigns help shed light on how to best tackle the proliferation of fake news. Secondly, investing more into research, Karpinska-Morek said, such as the establishment of a pan-European or international organization could offer a systematic approach to detecting fake news and propagandist narratives.
Then, balanced news is not a powerful weapon enough to support the western media in becoming more influential again.
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Triin Ilves Estonia
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THE LONG ROAD TO INTEGRATION The media between populist talk
With terrorist attacks happening more and more frequently every day, tensions over the question of migrants and far right political groups gaining increasing support through populist discourses, the Western world and culture are put under stress these days. “We are at a point where we are seeing the result of terrorist attacks as having the potential of creating fractures and divisions in our societies” says André Gagné, Associate Professor from Concordia University, Canada, at the beginning of the panel on “Identity and diversity in the age of populism and religious extremism” at the 2017 Deutsche Welle’s Global Media Forum. “The risk is to fall in the trap of the Jihadist propaganda discourse - that the West is actually in war against Islam. If we are not careful as societies about the reactions that we have against these kinds of events, they can create divisions. The jihadist narrative is to divide us and our liberalism at one point might become illiberal”. Questions of identity, and especially how we belong to a single community of “westerners” or Europeans, are central in the discussion. The challenge posed from the the arrival of foreigners in our societies creates more tension, but the actual controversy, in the first place, appears to revolve around the very concept of European identity and how it is diminishing every day, with populists claiming the superiority of the national dimension and citizens drifting away from a common sense of belonging. Still, identities have multiple facets and actualisations in everyday life, relating to one another in different ways. “We, as Europeans, should embrace this diversity, because we can only
gain from it. The more diversity you have, the more resources” says Laura Wagenknecht, freelance producer and editor based in East Africa. The road to integration is long and difficult, but it would be rewarding for everyone. Still, Gagné points out, it is evident how a “clash of values” is happening. The sensation of unrest appears pervasive, and media might be part of the problem, perpetrating biased worldviews in covering topics on top of the political agenda. Simplification of complex issues in an “us versus them” kind of rhetoric often leads to too narrow understanding of current events, providing only partial information and, therefore, fragmented truth. “Everybody says: “we need to defeat Isis” but actually people don’t know anything about it; they don’t know what it is and where it comes from” says from the audience Khalid Albaih, Sudanese artist and independent political cartoonist based in Qatar. Albaih has been producing cartoons on social media since 2008, following trending topics and monitoring public opinion on the web. Based in Qatar, he has over 80.000 followers on Facebook and among his cartoon subjects (which are based on Creative Commons and available to everyone) the Middle East and religious matters reoccur frequently. “The media need focus on the history of things - how were these enemies created?”, he adds. Disentangling years of complicated world events is no easy job, and, 19
Foto: DW/K. Danetzki
and the need for new formats
IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE AGE OF POPULISM AND RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM PANEL
despite good will, reduced time and resources in newsrooms makes it less likely for the media to be able to go back to the explanatory and educating role that it used to have, before it got lost in the ocean of online news, between light speed circulation and information hemorrhages. From a reader’s perpective, understanding of these events takes takes a lot of time and energy: being informed means much more than simply following the news once a day. Is it possible to find the time and the resources, on all sides, to reach the goal of having an informed and integrated society? With much probability, the answer lies in the changing newsmaking business models and how successful they will be in finding ways to keep performing a traditional media role with new formats. Whether that is going to happen it’s all another story, but still represents a central question to keep in mind.
Irene Dominioni Italy
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TO FIGHT FAKE NEWS WE DON’T NEED CENSORSHIP, BUT MEDIA LITERACY “How much news is fake news?” asks Damian Tambini, Associate Professor and Director of the Media Policy Project at the London School of Economics, during his speech at the Summer School “Journalism in the Digital Age: responding to propaganda and fake news” held this month at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) in Florence, Italy. From the pie shown at the beginning of his presentation, according to a research conducted by the Boston News Institute, of all news stories shared on Facebook, more than 25% is actually fake. A figure that appears enormous. “Now, as you might have suspected, that research is completely invented. My 15-year-old daughter made those slides in about five minutes” says Tambini, turning to another slide picturing a young girl behind a laptop. An embarrassed chuckle crosses the room, populated with young journalists, students and media researchers from all over Europe. “Today, it’s quite easy to make up things that look real”. Fake news is not something new as a phenomenon, but, according to Tambini, “something has changed”, making the circulation and resonance it is having these days much more worrying than in the past. First of all, the profitability of fake news has changed: insurgent populists have a lot to gain from it, because being allowed to label large parts of public discourse as fake represents an advantage. There has also been a change in the distribution and advertising system of the news: companies are now buying clicks and views, not space on a page or minutes on TV, therefore pointing out a need for catchy titles and content. Also, the viewability and shareability of stories has increasingly become crucial, overshadowing the validity of content;
and finally, there has been a structural change in media systems, threatening traditional journalism and pointing out the entire question of the quality of information even more strongly (not as much as 25% of news shared on Facebook is fake, but there is definitely a big deal of wrong information circulating on social media, says Tambini). What should be done about fake news? In terms of policy responses, there have been calls for new legislation in Italy, Germany and elsewhere. In the case of Italy, in February 2017 a group of
“ When you have definitions of what is fake news or inappropriate content that are too wide, and you give the right to a governmental agency to decide what is truth and what is fake news, that can have a very direct and worrying censorship effect.” MPs presented a law proposal named “Regulations to prevent the manipulation of online information, guarantee web transparency and incentivise media literacy”. The draft contained possible measures to contrast the unrestrained spreading of hoaxes and misleading news by establishing pecuniary fines and criminal sanctions. Specifically, the draft foresees a fine up to 5.000 euros against those who spread news that are “exaggerated or biased, regarding 20
facts evidently unfounded or false”, and a 12-month imprisonment for those who disseminate “news that cause public scaremongering or harm to the public interest”. The vagueness of the definition of what the proposal considers fake news led to strong critique from all sides, identified as a threat to freedom of expression, and defined “dangerous”, “unrealistic” and “useless”. Indeed, the concept of fake news is complex, and has been identified as both “falsehood knowingly distributed to undermine a candidate or an election; falsehood distributed for financial gain” (the case of the Macedonian town of Veles became big during the American elections), but also bad journalism and unsubstantiated humor (such as that of tabloids). New forms are also encountered in whatever news is seen as ideologically opposed or challenging consensus and therefore labeled as fake, the way Donald Trump does recurrently - and parody. The proposal for fake news law in Italy was also criticized for its aim to regulate blogs and other websites in the framework of “editorial responsibility”: the obligation for every website owner to register their domain by the public authority (similar to the way newspapers do), and also to remove contested content within 48 hours appear inconceivable solutions to the issue of fake news, creating more problems than they can actually solve. Tambini agrees, and addresses the law proposal that was presented to the Parliament as “dreadful” and reminescent of an Orwellian kind of reality. Interviewed by Orange Magazine, he said: “When you have definitions of what is fake news or inappropriate content that are too wide, and you give the right to a governmental agency to decide what is truth and what is fake news, that
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Foto: London School of Ecnomics
can have a very direct and worrying censorship effect. The last time I looked at the Italian proposal, I thought it was dangerous, because to me it meant moving towards some kind of Ministry of Truth, which completely goes against the established democratic traditions. If we establish this kind of agency, it is almost inevitable that it will be misused.” The question of establishing what is truth and what is fake in the first place is a complex matter, dealing with philosophical as well as practical dimensions, which the law proposal hasn’t successfully outlined. Nevertheless, there is a positive aspect to this law, Tambini observes. The reference to media literacy and tools to support it is acknowledged as one of the most important elements in the fight against fake news, democratically providing to everyone the skills to distinguish the reliability of sources and use the Internet wisely and effectively. This is one of the respects where legislation can help in a substantial manner, by promoting specific programs and devoting resources to it, adds the scholar. What else do we need? According to Tambini, a lot of the responsibility rests on journalists and media organisations’ own shoulders: “We need more public awareness, self-regulation and support for independent journalism, rather than any censorship approach. We don’t have regulation of the press; we have self-regulation, journalism ethics and quality professional journalism, and we let the journalists decide what is true”. In other words, the press needs to be free, this being the most basic democratic requirement for a healthy and well-functioning media system. Keeping in mind that “journalism is not fr ee speech”, as Chris Elliott from the Ethical Journalism Network stresses during his speech at the CMPF Summer School, codes of conduct for journalists are evolving and will
Damian Tambini, Associate Professor and Director of the Media Policy Project at the London School of Economics
increasingly need to do so, in order to meet new levels of trustworthiness. Reputation, accountability and reliability will make a difference in deciding who has the power to speak and to decide what is true. At the same time, the need to create new generations of responsive and resilient news consumers, who are able to critically evaluate and utilize news, will increasingly become crucial to improve the media environment. Will that be enough? Some answers may be found on how the media can further improve reporting and partner with other sectors to increase public media literacy. 21
Irene Dominioni Italy
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NOT ONLY A MEME-GENERATOR: SOCIAL MEDIA AS A HOTBED FOR SATIRE The world of social media cultivates reactions. We as the users are both the inspiration and creators for new visual ways of expression. Not only do we crave for humor and “LOL”-worthy content, but we use it to recognize, translate and transmit our responses. Memes, gifs, emojis and humor in general, are the heightened versions of our reactions;. They redefine the traditional forms of communication: instead of using words, we match our reactions with visuals, often exaggerating the images. However, even the lushest forms of memes are built on old values. Satire - ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement, is usually meant to be humorous, but its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism. Satire is still a widely used tool for traditional media. In newspapers, we are used to seeing a daily caricature in the opinion section. Often, they illustrate an article or capture a topical issue in the society. As news is hardly consumed in traditional forms, so has the shift towards another hotbed for satirical drawings. In the United States, various talk shows inweave content from the Internet into classical reportage. This results in new form of political satire and make them more appealing to the younger generation. “Many scholars, who have been studying memes suggest, that we should talk about them as forms of alternative engagement,” said Andra Siibak, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tartu.
People who otherwise do not care so much about politics or social problems and are not actively involved in the society have now a new way to express their opinions, she added. The critical reader might be diverted by witty remarks, but it’s important to see behind the satire and perceive whether it’s objective or biased. Even the mediums who aim objective coverage should check whether some public figures are not ruthlessly portrayed as the “bad guys” or unceasingly glorified. Fostering reactions
Go, go, go, go go, go, go, shawty
New technological opportunities offer a platform to those who were in the shadows and whose voice was not heard in society, Siibak said.
It’s your birthday
Notably, a few people who created witty and popular memes have gained a relatively big audience. In Estonia, Karmo Ruusmaa, shares his satirical comics under the page “Poliitika & Pullisitt” (word game for “Politics & Bulls”).
It’s not your birthday!
Portraying mostly politicians, his comics are part of the new way of consuming daily news. “I still get inspired by our political landscape and weather,” Ruusmaa said. On better days, an interested reader might be motivated to read actual news, in worse cases, they perceive the world through layers of satire. One might argue whether this contributes to the fake news phenomena or that it just becomes a new way of how the media remains relevant to their audience and readers.
We gon’ party like it’s yo birthday We gon’ sip Bacardi like it’s your birthday And you know we don’t give a fuck
Image: Poliitika&Pullisitt
naturally. At one point, Delfi asked me to collaborate with them, but they started to edit out the typos – poor grammar is intentional – and direct the content. Then, I immediately dropped the partnership,” Ruusmaa explained. “The meme phenomena will certainly not only influence the news consumption but may clearly be used for political communication that can successfully influence the views of larger groups,” Siibak noted. Therefore, the memefication phenomena should not be perceived as just another fad. Adding a humorous touch would be one of the ways to maintain diversity and present audiences with relevant and topical information in a new form.
“I do not censor myself consciously, the perception of border comes quite Triin Ilves Estonia 22
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