Young Croatians learn how to fight fake news and disinformation

The local training sessions organised by Association Udruga Echo gathered 170 participants

Association ECHO, in cooperation with the Croatian Pan-European Union, held three workshops for students on the topic of combating fake news and disinformation, as part of the local activities under the Read Twice project. The trainings were organized on 18 April, 16 May and 23 May in Zagreb, Croatia

Over 170 Croatian youngsters acquire skills against disinfo

The trainings took place as part of the second stage of the EU-funded project. In the first one, ten young people from Croatia participated in capacity-building workshops in Berlin and Porto. They were joined by another 20 youngsters from Bulgaria and Romania, to form a group of 30 young media professionals, from the fields of journalism, PR and political science or bloggers.

After having gained new skills and knowledge with the partners of Alliance4Europe and Lusofona University, the youngsters returned home and conducted local workshops for more than 170 students from Croatia. They educated and informed them about tools and techniques to combat and recognise fake news and disinformation so participants learned about various aspects of these issues and tested classic and modern tools for countering the phenomenon of disinformation in the digital space. 

Besides presenting the before mentioned topics and tools, at the very beginning of each training, a short insight was given on the following topics:  Fake news and truth in the age of digital media; Fake news, propaganda and media literacy and How does fake news shape hate speech?

After each topic and tool was presented, there was a Q&A session. The questions asked inspired discussions. With the high levels of attendance as well as the positive feedback/evaluation of each training, it can be said that the events had a great impact on the students and their knowledge of fake news and disinformation.

Author: Udruga Echo Association