“Disinformation in the media. Ways to overcome it” – the Belarusian section of the ISHR held a round table in Minsk

In terms of the implementation of the grant by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs #CivilSocietyCooperation to the ISHR on the topic “Media, opinion formation, human rights,” the Board and the Scientific Expert Council of the Belarusian Section of the ISHR together with the Republican Public Association “Belarusian Philosophical Society” and the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus held a round table discussion on the topic “Disinformation in the media. Ways to overcome it” on October 17, 2019, in the Institute.

Professor Ivan Kotlyar (on the left) and Alexandr Kuish (on the right) took the most active part in the preparation and conduct of the meeting (©philosophy.by)

The organizing committee for the preparation and conduct of the meeting was headed by Professor Ivan Kotlyar, chairman of the board of the Belarusian Section of the ISHR, and the meeting was moderated by Alexandr Kuish, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Scientists from the Institute and higher educational institutions (International University “MITSO,” Institute of Entrepreneurship and Parliamentarism, Belarusian State University (Institute of Journalism), Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank, Brest State University named after A.S.Pushkin, and others), members of the Belarusian Section of the ISHR, and bloggers also actively participated in the round table.

Anatoly Lazarevich, director of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, deputy chairman of the Republican Public Association “Belarusian Philosophical Society” delivers his welcome speech

The meeting was opened by Professor Ivan Kotlyar and Anatoly Lazarevich, director of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, deputy chairman of the Republican Public Association “Belarusian Philosophical Society,” who made welcoming speeches to all those gathered and outlined the scientific framework and the need for discussion.

Vadim Zhilko, member of the Belarusian section of the ISHR and the Belarusian Association of Journalists, deputy editor-in-chief of the “Inform-Progulka” newspaper, presents his report on the theme “Belarus media landscape: human rights coverage issue”  (©philosophy.by)

In-depth, informative reports on the phenomenon of disinformation (Alexandr Kuish), on the media landscape of the Republic of Belarus (Vadim Zhilko, member of the Belarusian section of the ISHR and the Belarusian Association of Journalists, deputy editor-in-chief of the “Inform-Progulka” newspaper), on technical means of disinformation (Pavel Pernikau, head of the press center of the Belarusian section of the ISHR), on the role of the media in shaping public opinion in the fight against disinformation (Emmanuil Ioffe, Professor at Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank) were presented to the participants of the meeting.

Professor Ivan Kotlyar breaks down disinformation regarding human rights by the host of the “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” TV-show

As an authoritative political scientist and famous human rights champion, Professor Ivan Kotlyar spoke on the topic “On disinformation regarding human rights.” In his report, which caused considerable interest, he gave a critical expert assessment of the information broadcast on the author’s television program “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” on June 6, 2019, on the channel “Russia,” exposing disinformation from the side of the anchor of the popular talk show.

Alena Lahunouskaya, Associate Professor at Brest State University named after A.S. Pushkin, member of the Belarusian section of the ISHR, speaks on the topic “Disinformation and freedom of conscience”

As part of the program of the meeting, the thematic reports “Disinformation: the responsibility of the media and the responsibility of consumers of information,” “Media culture as a means of counteracting disinformation,” and “Disinformation and freedom of conscience” were also heard. All of them reinforced the speakers’ presentations and emphasized the importance of the problem under discussion once again.

A fruitful discussion took place. Its participants spoke in favor of continuing to study the phenomenon of disinformation, increasing the number of publications on this issue

Following the discussion of the problem, recommendations were made to the journalistic community, state institutions of Belarus, and international institutions, while all of the participants noted that the round table was conducted at a high organizational and scientific level and they themselves gained new knowledge that they could apply in the future.

Pavel Pernikau, member of the board, head of the press center of the Belarusian section of the ISHR