Discussions on Fake News and Trolls: All at PR Impact Awards 2018

The annual PR Impact Awards 2018 event, taking place next Friday, May 18, in Vilnius, is focusing on innovation and its impact on communications more than ever.

Experts will be covering such topics as communication psychology, reputation and artificial intelligence at the conference organized by the Lithuanian Communications Association and the Lithuanian Association of the Public Relations Agencies. Its participants will also have the chance to join a few panel discussions, one of which is going to focus on the internet trolls, fake news and the countermeasures.

Countering Propaganda with Bad News

While the media is paying more and more attention to fake news and their impact on social and political lives, the key concern for regular internet users still stands: how to spot fake news and differ them from the real ones?

According to Jon Roozenbeek, a researcher at Cambridge University and one of the speakers at the PR Impact Awards 2018 Conference, the best way to spot fake news is to understand how, when and why they are created.

“We introduced the “Bad News” game in February, aiming to increase users’ interest in and their understanding of fake news. The game can be understood as a vaccination that allows to become the creator of fake news, to witness how disinformation campaigns evolve and spread. This teaches them to understand fake news and differ them from the real ones,” said J. Roozenbeek.

The panel discussion about disinformation, trolls and the countermeasures will also be joint by Solvita Denisa-Liepniece, media literacy adviser at the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence, and Tomas Čeponis, representative of the Strategic Communications Department at the Lithuanian Armed Forces.