RomânăThe main goal of this project is to develop a set of monitoring and analysis instruments, encourage critical thinking in media consumption and carry out a number of pilot workshops / interventions, in Romania and Moldova, aimed at exposing and de-constructing the mechanisms of propaganda / fake news and increase media literacy, in the specific cultural and media context of each country.
Within the project, we will touch upon 4 major directions:
- Create instruments to measure the phenomenon and present them in public events, in order to trigger a public discussion, polemics and thus increase public awareness of a deficient reality (manipulation index)
- Create a concept of media analysis toolkit and pilot it in a number of “schools for democracy” workshops, both in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, targeting three important target groups: university students (journalism, law, political science); high school students; high school staff who teach humanities and thus can act as multipliers (by including our instruments and cases in their class material)
- Create a number of media products which capture in a creative way the problems we analyse and explain: video blog posts by known bloggers with large follower-ship; case studies on a few instances when a demonstrably fake or manipulated piece of news created serious effects in reality.
- Initiate a crowd-funding campaign for “real and balanced news” outlets, specifically those in the Republic of Moldova, and an advocacy campaign outside the country, primarily in Brussels, for the need to support the proper mass media in this region.
The project will develop skills in local community leaders (high school teachers – with a focus on Moldova; students which can reach out to peers) to identify and debunk fake news and manipulation in the media; create links between Moldovan and Romanian students and teachers for future media watchdogs. Using the innovative instruments in the project, we will create a pool of interested students and citizens and provide them with knowledge and a set of tools freely available on the Internet for future monitoring of the media.
What have we done so far:
On June 11th, we co-organized together with Watchdog.md the debate #RECONNECTMOLDOVA – How can Romania help Moldova during EU presidency? during which we discussed about what Romania should do during the EU presidency to better support the European path of the Republic of Moldova. The results will be made available to decision-makers to be integrated into policies and projects at European level.
Report Own goal through over-propaganda PSD POLICY SPECIALTIES?. We have quantified the effects on social media of the PSD march in Bucharest, where topics such as Soros or the deep state have been frequently repeated.
Project implemented with the financial support from the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation – A project of the German Marshall Fund. Opinions expressed in this material do not necessarily represent those of the Black Sea Trust, the German Marshall Fund