Who cleans up the ‚news‘ garbage: the European Union, the media or us?

Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe held three seminars in English, German and Ukrainian languages titled "Who cleans up the ‚news‘ garbage: the European Union, the media or us?" for children of 7-12 years during the Kinderuni 2023. Seminar highlighted the importance of keeping our informational environment and minds clean.

The seminar discussed misinformation, disinformation and fake news as threats to our informational environment, in particular as an ecology where living with each other and looking after the planet is put under pressure. The seminar asked who is responsible to "clean up the garbage" of fake news, starting with the EU and moving on to citizens. We provided an overview of how to assess truthful and reliable information, how to fact check and what questions to ask at all cases.

Information Malaise and Europe: Refugee voices for Democracy

Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe is organizing an Open-Door Workshop: “Information Malaise and Europe: Refugee voices for Democracy”. The workshop will take place at the Department of Communications at the University of Vienna on 22 June 2023. Registration is necessary. Please, register here.

This workshop aims to promote inclusive and participatory approaches to governance in European democracies, with a particular focus on the voices and perspectives of refugees. First panel will discuss “Misrepresentation as misinformation: Implications for European Democracies” chaired by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katharine Sarikakis. Second panel “Jean Monnet FREuDe Report: Public Debates on Refugees” will be moderated by Dr. Oleksandra Gudkova.

Please find the details and full programme here.

International Conference on Cybersecurity and Elections

Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe is coorganising the III International Conference on Cybersecurity and Elections. “Guarantees against information disorders in the digital arena. Democracy, rights and elections.” The conference took place at the Complutense University of Madrid on 10-12 May 2023.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katherine Sarikakis, Director of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe and Media Governance and Industries Research Lab will moderate a plenary session “The Global Electoral Justice Network. Disinformation campaigns and their risks for democracy: creating a framework for their regulation?”

Dr. Oleksandra Gudkova, Senior Researcher at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe, Department of Communication, will hold a presentation titled “Countering double disinformation by feminist activists in Russia and Ukraine” during the roundtable on Disinformation and Sovereignty.

Please find the programme here:

Research Bites. Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe Think Tank.

The Think Tank Sessions "Research bites"  (February - May 2023) offer a platform for in-depth discussions, ideas sharing, and the exploration of a wide range of EU-related issues. The sessions connect concise research findings to the practical solutions driven debates.

Please find the programme with topics for discussion here

EPP Group Conference in Brussels

FreuDe is coorganized the EPP Group Conference, Focus group Brussels Programme: European responses to disinformation threats. Hostile narratives and electoral interference. The Conference takes place on Monday, 24th of October 2022 at the European Parlament in Brussels, Belgium.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katharine Sarikakis, Director of Media Governance and Industries Research Lab has a seat in the executive board together with Professor Rafael Rubio and Professor Loreto Corredoira, both from the from the Complutense University of Madrid.

Please find the programme here

and the invitation here.

Panel discussion: From the Streets to the Net: Feminist activism in the media

Dr.in Oleksandra Gudkova held a talk for the Panel: From the Streets to the Net: Feminist activism in the media. The case of FEMEN in Europe at the The International Conference on Gender and Communication, organized by the University of Seville and the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy) with the collaboration of Sapienza, University of Rome. The conference was held in hybrid mode (face to face and online) from 11 to 14 October 2022. Please find the program here.

Panel discussion: Challenges for Politics and Education for Youth and Media in Europe

This panel is open to the public and part of the RIPE@2022 Conference, which took place from September 18-21 2022.

Protection of Children's and Youth's Informational Rights

This event was a Round Table hosted at the GIG-ARTS 2022 conference in Cyprus on April 13-14 2022.

Protection of Children's and Youth's Informational Rights They are at the forefront of technological adoption and continue constituting the largest and fastest growing user-public of global media platforms, this way cementing a future consumer base for digital communication services and products. Yet, youth and in particular children are only recently the focus of policy which aims to prioritize their informational rights as a matter of a larger cartography of digital rights and human rights. The Round Table explores the nexus of communication and control on children’s lives as they are both users-consumers as well as, importantly, emerging and young citizens. What are the challenges to children’s human rights in the digital realm and what are the implications for European democracies?

Chair: Katharine Sarikakis, Professor of Communication Science and Director of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FREuDe, University of Vienna, Austria

- Loreto Corredoira, Professor of Communication Law, Complutense University Madrid, Spain
- Stavros Parlalis, Assistant Professor, Frederick University, Cyprus
- Friso Roscam Abbing, Adviser on Communication, EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Vienna, Austria

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