Experts discuss disinformation in digital era at TRT World Forum

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) - Experts discussed ways to alleviate the harm caused by disinformation as part of Disarming Disinformation: Defending the Truth in the Digital Age session of the TRT World Forum on Friday.

Speaking at the session, Anadolu Agency's Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Ozhan stressed that the news is being interrupted in "a non-stop way" in the digital era.

"What we are speaking of is an asymmetrical threat that is rendering our stories useless," Ozhan added.

He said that Anadolu Agency set up a verification desk recently as some other agencies did, but added that "a news agency shouldn't be bothered with verifying, but this is the world we are living in."

Regarding social media's effect on traditional media, Ozhan said: "... the entire media, not only news agency but also broadcast journalism and print journalism has to evolve into a certain direction. But before that, we have to decide that evolution is either going to be in line with people's expectations or against it."

For his part, Anthony Gooch, the director of Public Affairs and Communications at OECD, said that disinformation is part of being human and 2016 "was a wake-up call for us," referring to Russian influence on US elections.

Noting it "has now gone turbo" in a digital world, Gooch said: "It spreads quicker, the consequences are graver. It becomes unfashionable to seek the views of experts."

Michael Isikoff, the chief investigative correspondent at Yahoo News, said: "Disinformation is a serious and ongoing threat. In 2016 we learned how the Russians influenced the US presidential election."

Dominika Cosic, a political journalist in Brussels, pointed out how crucial to balance freedom of expression and the right to defend the truth in the digital are, for her part.

Sometimes it is "very difficult" to judge what is fake news and what is true and it is very difficult to accuse people accordingly, Cosic said.

Explaining why there is so much fake news now, she said that "now we live in a time of turbulence, time of global change."

With the time of change, under the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, many countries are trying to use this situation to their benefit, she said.

The TRT World Forum 2022, a two-day annual event, started in Istanbul on Friday.

The gathering, which is held under the theme of Mapping the Future: Uncertainties, Realities and Opportunities this year, brings together academics, journalists, intellectuals, politicians, and members of civil society from around the globe.

Nearly 100 speakers and over 1,000 participants from nearly 40 countries are attending the forum, according to Mehmet Zahid Sobaci, the director general of TRT, Türkiye's public broadcaster.

The forum will feature sessions on various subjects, such as the Ukraine-Russian war, global migration, and the energy crisis, as well as disinformation.