Representatives of leading European news agencies discussed the growing wave of fake news and disinformation, particularly exacerbated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the spread of artificial intelligence at the Future Media Conference in Warsaw. The President of the European Alliance of News Agencies and CEO of Austria’s news agency APA, Clemens Pig, stated that news agencies currently face more challenges than five years ago, adding that fake news, corruption, and cybercriminals are not the only problems, but also smarter AI. Pig emphasized that each war is a struggle against the truth and constant attempts to suppress honest messages with disinformation noise. News agencies have a greater role in defending against better fake news than providing the public with facts. Since one agency cannot cope with global challenges alone, it requires means that exceed that agency’s capabilities.
Additionally, heads of news agencies highlighted the strengthening of Moscow’s information war against the West, particularly enhanced before the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The president of the Polish Press Agency, Wojciech Surmacz, emphasized that since the full-scale war, there has been a powerful wave of disinformation, especially concerning Ukraine or Poland, making it important for news agencies to fight this misinformation and inform the world about what is actually happening in the country. Nataliia Kostina, editor-in-chief of Ukrinform’s international department, added that various media organizations in Ukraine have sufficiently mastered collecting and analytically processing disinformation, classifying fakes by topics. Russia has been bombing Ukraine territory with Iranian-made drones and missiles for a long time, as well as bombarding the information space with propaganda. Therefore, it is essential to have an information-defense system to combat Russian misinformation, a task for global and European news agencies.
The Future Media Conference was organized by the Polish Press Agency (PAP), and many commonalities were revealed in how news agencies can better combat fake news. The attendees of the conference emphasized the importance of raising the professional level of their employees and explained the need to move to a new, higher level of countering fake news. The media ecosystem is most responsible for the quality of information, and news agencies must play a greater role while providing the public with accurate information.
