Resilience against Disinformation & Hate Speech
The dark side of the digital media worlds is clearly the many possibilities to play out channels and ways of disinformation and to spread them with great reach. It is not only the social media platforms that make it difficult to assess the quality of sources, not only because "likes" or "followers" are not good indicators or the algorithms do not curate according to quality or truthfulness, but also because classic media are finding it increasingly difficult not to fall for disinformation by populist politicians. What is gladly forgotten: Disinformation is part of the communication strategy of populist politicians or right-wing extremists. Like boulders, they block our public discourse and also take topics and truthfulness out of the daily media agenda.
It is worthwhile to strengthen the resilience (= resistance) of society. This applies to political public relations as well as to journalism or the news competence of citizens, because anyone who is involved in the democratic communication process can become a gateway or disseminator of disinformation.
In workshops and seminars we help society to increase its resilience towards disinformation. So far, we have advised members of the European Commission, the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as editorial offices in Germany and abroad or civil society organizations on what strategies are promising in dealing with disinformation, what role debunking plays or what monitoring can look like.
Further topics
#01
Business models in digital journalism
With the digital age, two pillars of media financing have collapsed: advertising revenues and sales figures. The financing of journalism must therefore take new paths today. Non-profit status and platform economy can not only be two options, they can also be thought of together.
#02
Next Generation Social Media
The first age of social networks was a gigantic global success with a new form of human interconnectivity and communication, but also dark underbellies of destructive disinformation and propaganda. What can we learn from the first age, about business models, blueprints, algorithms, and echo chambers, and do better in the next?
#03
Public Welfare Oriented Media Policy
A media order that emphasizes the remoteness of the media from the state, seeks to secure diversity, protects public-law systems from market power, and seeks to prevent monopolies of opinion as well as economic cartels is still a good foundation for a modern or even technically revolutionary media world. We think future-proof concepts that protect and further develop this foundation.