Co-applicant:
n/a
Donor:
CFI – Développement Médias
Short Summary:
The ‘Building Disinformation Resilience in Montenegro’ project will empower BIRN Montenegro, the latest addition to BIRN’s network, to establish a fact-checking unit for consistent coverage of disinformation narratives. As well as strengthening BIRN Montenegro’s capabilities, the project will enhance the skills of local media outlets and their journalists in fact-checking, content verification and accessing information of public interest. This initiative aims to strengthen Montenegro’s resilience against disinformation and misinformation, ensuring the public has access to trustworthy news sources.
Long Summary:
The ‘Building Disinformation Resilience in Montenegro’ project is led by BIRN HUB with the support of CFI – Développement Médias. The initiative aims to build resilience to disinformation by building the capacities of journalists in Montenegro.
Media organisations in most countries in the region, including Montenegro, must navigate highly polarised political environments and face increasing economic and financial uncertainty, along with pressure on editorial independence and even threats from criminal groups. Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine has posed an additional set of challenges for countries trying to contain Russian disinformation efforts while balancing this with upholding media freedoms.
The proliferation of cyber-attacks against government servers in Montenegro during the last year has also caused serious financial damage, halting administrative activities and delaying trials. This not only demonstrates weaknesses in prevention mechanisms, but also contributes to an environment that nurtures speculation and spreads unverified information.
The country has experienced strong political polarisation in recent years, which has resulted in media outlets aligning themselves with specific political agendas. This has led to the propagation of biased, incomplete and even false information that serves these agendas. Key areas where such phenomena have been noted are related to Montenegro’s NATO membership and political, ethnic and religious divisions in the society.
Increased challenges related to disinformation, misinformation and malinformation continue to be dominate social media as well as traditional outlets. Domestic media, which generally tend to cover community issues in a professional manner, lack the capacity to identify, debunk and report on disinformation.
This project will enable BIRN’s network’s newest member, BIRN Montenegro, to set up a fact-checking unit and regularly report on disinformation narratives. As well as building the capacities of BIRN Montenegro, BIRN will also build the capacities of domestic local media outlets and their journalists in fact-checking, content verification, access to information of public interest etc, in order to increase their effectiveness in professional and objective reporting. In this way, Montenegro will be more resilient to disinformation and false information narratives, providing the public with more credible news content.
Through this initiative, BIRN aims to improve the standard of journalism in Montenegro, focusing specifically on combatting disinformation. After the intensive programme, BIRN Montenegro will also be able to serve as BIRN’s focal point for all fact-checking activities related to the country, while also enhancing the capabilities of other organisations in this area. This impact will be increased by building the capacities of domestic media to identify, debunk and report on disinformation.
Target Group(s):
- BIRN Montenegro journalists
- BIRN Network – up to 10 journalists from the BIRN Network who collaborate with Montenegrin colleagues
- Montenegrin youth
- Journalists and local media
Expected Results:
- Fact-checking unit in BIRN Montenegro is to be set up, skilled and operational.
- Montenegrin youth to be better informed about disinformation and false information narratives designed to target them.
- Local media and journalists to be more capable to identify, debunk and report on disinformation and false information.
Main Activities:
Activity 01. Build capacities of BIRN Montenegro journalists and its correspondents on disinformation and false information through intensive training and mentoring.
Activity 02. Purchase equipment, software and subscriptions needed for fact-checking.
Activity 03. Develop and adopt fact-checking procedures for editorial work.
Activity 04. Develop a detailed production plan for disinformation and false information stories targeting youth.
Activity 05. Conduct extensive consultations with civil society organisations dealing with youth, to identify the most problematic disinformation narratives used to target youth, as well as distribution channels.
Activity 06. Develop, publish and promote at least three in-depth analyses on disinformation and false information targeting youth.
Activity 07. Organise training for journalists from domestic media outlets on disinformation and false information.
Activity 08. Provide mentoring to domestic media outlets and journalists on disinformation and false information.
