BIRN Kosovo Holds Discussion on Fake News and Disinformation With School Students

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On May 29, BIRN held the last debate discussion with the students of the high school “Eqrem Cabej” in the municipality of Vushtrri about fake news and disinformation related to culture.

Photo: BIRN

The discussion started after the BIRN team showed a video titled “History between interpretation and the truth”, published on BIRN’s KALLXO.com.

The video explains how history is one of those topics that is affected deeply by fake news and how the persons who create such news and disinformation intend to deceive their audience about historical facts.

The video addresses also the risk of the young being put at risk by such materials on history. The video includes an interview with Gjon Berisha, a historian, and Kushtrim Koliqi, who organizes the “Mirëdita Dobar dan” festival.

Gjon Berisha said every nation or country has at particular times misused or misinterpreted history for its own purposes, even for patriotic or national reasons.

Kushtrim Koliqi talked about the idea of the festival which helps to build bridges between Kosovar and Serbian artists and avoid the propaganda that can manipulate culture.

The discussion was moderated by Kreshnik Gashi, managing editor at KALLXO.com. Gashi spoke about the importance of the young generation identifying fake news and on ways to debunk the phenomenon.

Pupils at the “Eqrem Cabej” high school expressed interest in this topic and how social media is changing fast and can manipulate information.

A total of 39 students participated in the discussion, of whom 27 were girls.

The activity was carried out within the UNMIK-supported project “Addressing disinformation through fact-checking journalism”.