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First local activity in Sarajevo
We live in a time when information, whether accurate or not, is sent around the world at the touch of a button. The information environment is huge and complicated. Misinformation (unintentionally false information) and disinformation (intentionally false information) play a significant role in influencing public opinion on vital topics such as politics, science, health, and current events.
Aware of this, as part of the dissemination activities for the project Structured Learning for Awareness in Media – SLAM, BRAVO volunteers organized one of the local activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 8, where their organization operates.
The event hosted participants in both ways: online and offline.
It was an awareness-raising event where participants learned about fake news, false information, differences between the two, and their consequences on both opinion creation and society in general.
The participants had a greater understanding of how misleading information emerges and affects society in the twenty-first century as a result of this event. They’ve discovered how it can affect how people view and interact with others who have different personal opinions, life experiences, and cultural backgrounds.
Participants also learned how fake news and false information are spread on social media, and how to combat them. They discussed clickbait, shocking news headlines, fake photos and videos, and much more.
The first characteristics or indicators of “fake news” were discovered by a meaningful analysis of descriptions found in academic journals, trade publications, newspapers, and magazines, among other places. These characteristics are broken down into message or linguistic features, source and intention features, structural features, and network aspects, and can be beneficial when evaluating online content.