31. 8. 2023 | Strategic Communication, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is making an in-country visit to Skopje, North Macedonia. On 5 September, the project is inviting representatives of civil society, media and academia, as well as the government and the international community, to attend a rich programme dedicated to exploring the way forward in the whole-of-society approach to countering foreign perpetrated disinformation. The programme will be supported by relevant researchers and practitioners from North Macedonia and beyond, including representatives of the EU External Action Service (EEAS), the Government of Estonia and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE).
North Macedonia is currently providing an example of good practice in the Western Balkans, having developed, through a multi-stakeholder consultative process, the Recommendations for Joint Action for Building Societal Resilience Towards Malign Influences of Disinformation. With this in-country visit, the Project seeks to support the next steps in the Recommendations implementation. The agenda will, therefore, showcase the successful approaches and practices of countering disinformation in other countries and situate the entire process within the context of joint EU efforts and the EU accession process.
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
22. 2. 2024 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Novica v slovenščini je dostopna tukaj.
In the final stretch of the Western Balkan tour, the project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in the Western Balkans visited Kosovo and Montenegro in the week of 12-16 February.
In roundtable discussions with local experts, national governments, media, civil society, representatives of the academia and the international community, the priority of countering foreign perpetrated disinformation was reiterated as a matter of supporting democratic development, peace and security, and the EU integration of the region. Participants welcomed initiatives such as this Project that bring to the same table different societal sectors and appreciated the opportunity to exchange experiences and insights with peers from across Europe: the European External Action Service, the Centre against Hybrid Threats from the Czech Republic and the Brussels-based EU DisinfoLab. Cooperation was the word of the day during the dynamic and engaging debates, calling for a greater, more consistent and structured exchange between governments, media, and civil society, and between local stakeholders and international peers. Many good practices that were noted during the discussions stemmed precisely from such cooperative efforts.
With the visits to Kosovo and Montenegro in February 2024, the Project concluded its tour of the Western Balkans. The lessons learned during all six visits will feed into the remaining activities of the project that will follow this spring!
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
20. 12. 2023 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Novica v slovenščini je dostopna tukaj.
In its final in-country visit in 2023, the project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in the Western Balkans made its way to Tirana, Albania. On 15 December, the project organised an insightful discussion with Albanian society, as well as with local and European experts and practitioners.
Participants highlighted that although the challenge of foreign-perpetrated disinformation may seem muted in Albanian society, it is highly present as information is uncritically shared from foreign sources by different societal actors. Fact-checking is often a race against time, whereas media, as well as digital literacy, remain an ongoing priority.
Presentation of the findings by BIRN Albania showcased that foreign information manipulation is not as rare an occurrence as is commonly believed, and copy-pasting from foreign media outlets without fact-checking presents a big challenge for society. Representative of EEAS underlined the support of the EU to Albania and Western Balkan partners and the commitment of the EU’s diplomatic arm to strengthen the resilience against foreign information manipulation and interference. Participants also had the opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of good practices in EU Member States – how fact-checking works in the world-renowned media outlet Deutsche Welle, and how access to reliable information is incorporated in the national emergency supply of Finland. Exchange with international experts, learning from good practices, and support from the EU are prerequisites for further work in this area.
The project also held a closed-door discussion with representatives of the Albanian government and state agencies, which revealed the need to maintain and expand the whole-of-government dialogue on countering foreign-perpetrated disinformation and an opportunity for greater collaboration in the future.
While the in-country visit to Albania wrapped up the Western Balkans tour for 2023, in 2024, the project will continue on its mission and is already hard at work preparing its visits to Kosovo and Montenegro.
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
13. 10. 2023 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is continuing its in-country visits to the Western Balkans, with back-to-back visits to Sarajevo and Belgrade, on 24 and 27 October, respectively.
Joined by international and local experts and practitioners, we will discuss country-specific challenges and priorities in countering foreign-perpetrated disinformation. The program for each visit will take into account the inputs of national working groups from our regional capacity-building conference in Portoroz earlier this year, as well as consider new developments in the joint EU and Euro-Atlantic efforts to counter the threat of foreign-perpetrated disinformation.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will thus look at the example of Belgium to discuss the issues of establishing effective defence mechanisms in a complex state structure. Moreover, we will talk about the money and financing aspects in both the proliferation, and in countering disinformation.
In Serbia, we will look at best practices of national systems of countering disinformation, as can be found in Estonia or Finland. In addition to national efforts, we will also consider the potential benefits of multilateral cooperation in this field.
The events are open to representatives of government, media, civil society, academia, the international community and all other interested members of the public.
If you would like to join, you can register your attendance at the following links:
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
31. 8. 2023 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
On 28 August 2023, Western Balkans media and civil society representatives gathered at the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum for a roundtable discussion, ‘The Line Is(n’t) Thin: Fact v. Opinion, Regulation v. Censorship’. Joining the discussion was a Deutsche Welle journalist and a Global Diplomacy Lab member, Burak Ünveren. Together, participants exchanged experiences regarding the role and position of fact-checking in their respective countries, touched upon the challenges of journalism and effective communication of facts to society in the digital, ‘post-truth’ age, emphasized the risks inherent to the current business model of media outlets and noted the difficulties in maintaining an effective government-media-civil society relationship. Participants also weighed government intervention’s pros and cons in introducing counter-disinformation regulation. While there is no clear-cut answer to any of these questions, ensuring the sustainability of professional and quality journalism and supporting journalistic standards was heralded as a priority for all societies.
The discussion was organised under the framework of the ‘Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in the Western Balkans’ project. The project also allowed participants to attend the panels of the 18th Bled Strategic Forum, held in Bled on 28-29 August.
The Project Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Disinformation in the Western Balkans is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia through development cooperation funds.
