Developing Community Media to Mitigate the Impact of Fake News Erasmus Project

Project Title

Developing Community Media to Mitigate the Impact of Fake News

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Social dialogue

Project Summary

Today, ‘fake news’ is a catch-all phrase that is used widely in society to describe inaccuracies in media reporting, but also to discredit news reports which present a viewpoint that contrasts with an individual’s opinion or is contradictory to the stance of a political party, for example. While there is media manipulation, and while the spread of online news and media has led to there being instances of genuine ‘fake news’; the term is being widely used today to discredit any news story or opinion that people don’t agree with. This is a dangerous development as it permits individuals and communities to form and hold narrow opinions, and not have their viewpoints challenged.

At the same time, genuine instances of ‘fake news’ are causing division among communities. Around the world, we can see the impact that genuine ‘fake news’ has had on shaping society. Coupled with the growth in popularity of online media channels what results is a growing concern among citizens about the spread of disinformation through ‘fake news’ media. Research shows that 83% of Europeans think that ‘fake news’ is a threat to democracy; and 73% of Internet users are concerned about the spread of disinformation online in the pre-election period (Flash Eurobarometer 464; Special Eurobarometer 477).

The main aim of the ‘fake news’ apparatus that is applied by media channels, radical and populist groups around the world is to spread disinformation among media consumers and to encourage detachment and divisiveness within communities. The dissemination of ‘fake news’ is not a conspiracy; it is a proven technique that far-right and far-left media outlets, radical groups like ISIS, and populist movements use to push their political and social agendas. A study of how ISIS use media channels to promote youth radicalisation found that ISIS central command supervises 6 media divisions, each with its own specialism – video, text, photo, audio, visual graphics and translation – and that these 6 divisions provide media content to 38 media offices globally (Sikorskaya, 2017). ‘Fake news’ is a real issue; it is not being spread sporadically by individuals, it is a highly-sophisticated global mechanism that has been designed to use the Internet and media channels to wage information warfare. As such, ‘fake news’ affects our communities and communities must be supported and empowered to counteract it.

The focus of the WIRES-CROSSED project is to build the skills of ordinary people to cope with the stresses and strains of society today by mitigating the impact of fake-news campaigns aimed at destabilizing the status quo. It aims to build a community media framework that equips local communities with all the knowledge, skills and competences to develop, manage and maintain a comprehensive media service to local residents. The project will pursue an asset-based community development approach to harness the assets within the local communities where partners are based and bring them together under a common community media banner intent or promoting real news about the local area to residents.

The WIRES-CROSSED project will develop the following intellectual outputs to achieve its ambitious target:
IO1. Community Audit Toolkit and Report
IO2. Community Media Skills Development Resources
IO3. Toolkit of Media Moderation Resources
IO4. Induction Training for Adult & Community Educators
IO5. Online Interactive Learning Portal.

Project Website

https://wirescrossed.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 274204 Eur

Project Coordinator

JUGEND-& KULTURPROJEKT EV & Country: DE

Project Partners

• CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTD-CARDET
• SPEHA FRESIA SC
• Ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih Dante
• The Rural Hub CLG
• ALIANCE LEKTORU a KONZULTANTU
• Acumen Training Sp. z o.o.