When we want to make a distinction between real news and fake news, we must know that fake news is designed to arouse emotions, while real news comes to inform. The person should be attentive to the source of information. If it is a portal, this should be updated and the authors of the news articles should be real people, programs coordinator of the Independent Journalism Center Cristina Zavatin recommended in a public conference centering on fake news in the digital epoch that was held at the National Library, IPN reports.
According to Cristina Zavatin, fake news influences a lot the life of consumers of media products. The Independent Journalism Center launched a number of portals, such as mediacritica.md, by which it makes effort to combat fake news by case studies, analyses, etc. “The phenomenon has been constant not only in Moldova, but also in the West. All those who consume news are affected. The fake news spreads from relatives, friends as the people communicate between them. There is fake news that is written for attracting visitants and there is political fake news that is designed to mislead the public,” stated the programs coordinator, noting a real news item should first of all inform and have at least two impartial sources.
The conference was open to employees of the National Library and interested persons. Diana Silvestru, head of the National Library’s Digital Collections Section of the Information Technology Department, said that by the given conference the Library aimed to inform the librarians and those interested about the dangers of digital media. “We want the librarians to be closer to the phenomenon of fake news and to spot real science,” stated Diana Silvestru.
The public conference “Fake News in the Digital Epoch” was held for the first time as part of the project “Media Education at the Library” that was launched by IREX Europe. Within the same project, the National Library and education institutions earlier staged media education classes. The project ends this month.
