The bells for the celebration of the World Press Freedom Day in Europe, rang loudest in Brussels, where political leaders, leading journalists, acclaimed academics, and other top minds came together for another edition of ‘Difference Day’.
Interventions from European Parliament President, Antonio Tajani, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Tibor Navracsics, and renowned American whistleblower Edward Snowden were just some of the personalities with interventions in this year’s all-day event at the Bozar focused on raising public awareness on ‘Fake News’.
Participants were also treated to a very interesting session organized by the Association of European Journalists, entitled ‘The challenge of building trust: Is technology there to save the media’. With the 200+ seat room filled, Albert Barreiro, (PRISA), Guillaume Glossa (EBU), Dieter Boen (VRT Innovation), Tim Verheyden, (VRT), Ehsan Fadakar (Schibsted Sweden) and Pieter Haasnoot (Publicism) discussed a broad range of topics, which included the financial incentives to fake news, blockchain applications for journalism and media, and the role of social media in taking steps to protect society from phenomena such as terrorism and radicalization, as well as pedophilia.
The first session examined the ‘Future of Quality Journalism in the Digital Age’, while the second was a debate on ‘Journalism in a post-truth climate. Is quality journalism an answer?’ which included looking at the legal frameworks against ‘Fake News’. The last session focused on ‘Media Literacy and the Citizen: Finding Facts in a Post Truth Era’.
