The development of tools and actions against disinformation in Cyprus, Greece and Malta is the main objective of the research project Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedMO), which was presented on Wednesday by the Journalism Program of the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Cyprus.
The two-and-a-half-year research project began in December 2022 with funding from the Digital Europe program (2021-2027) of the European Commission, as part of an approved proposal to create national digital media observatories, with the aim of extending the reach of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
The consortium partners for this Mediterranean region include the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus University of Technology, the National Center for Research and Development in Greece, the Athens Technology Center, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Ellinika Hoaxes, from Malta the Times of Malta and the University of Malta, while member of the consortium is also the French News Agency (AFP).
Rector of the University of Cyprus, Professor Tasos Christofides said that it is an ambitious, important and worthwhile project, considering the rapid spread of misinformation online, as well as the abundance of fake news and hate speech in today’s digital media landscape.
Coordinator for fact checking projects in Europe at AFP, Joyce Zablit, said in her presentation that the agency produces news in 6 languages and has been performing fact-checking since 2017 in 26 languages worldwide, while also being part of 8 EDMO hubs. She added that AFP fact-checks rumours, hoaxes, falsifications that are circulating widely and become viral, manipulated images, videos taken out of context, different types of misinformation in third websites, with top themes for 2022 being the war in Ukraine, which has generated thousands of fact-checking entries worldwide, and COVID19 which remains a top misinformation topic.
The event was also addressed by Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences -Journalism Program – of the University of the Cyprus Philemon Bantimaroudis, President of the Union of Cyprus Journalists Giorgos Frangos, Dr Nikos Sarris on behalf of the Greek National Center for Research and Technological Development, on behalf of the Athens Technology Center Christos Gavalas and Assistant Professor in Journalism at the University of Cyprus, Theodora Maniou.
Source: Cyprus News Agency