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Aurel Lauren\u021biu Plosceanu, the EESC vice president, who opened the two-day event with that observation continued: \u201cwe cannot stand by and let their volume increase the chances of a world without democracy. Restricting media freedom inevitably leads to undermining civil society freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Helping journalism survive and thrive\u2019 was the conference\u2019s theme\u201d \u2013 but stark examples of the challenges reporters face formed much of the programme. Hanna Liubakova, for example, a Belarusian reporter, described being sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison for journalism that: \u201cinfected people with the wrong emotions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belarus \u2013 journalists imprisoned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrey Gnyot spoke via video link while under house arrest in Serbia awaiting possible extradition to face: \u201ctorture, and death, simply for telling the truth\u201d. Representatives of memorial projects to Daphne Caruana Galizia<\/a> and J\u00e1n Kuciak<\/a> described the murder of those journalists in Malta and Slovakia as a means to cover up political corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Belgium \u2013 publication banned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A case shared by Ricardo Guti\u00e9rrez, general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, revealed how universal are the challenges. Last week, his old employer, the liberal Belgian daily Le Soir<\/em>, was in court to defend plans to expose a politician charged with financial impropriety. Despite Belgium\u2019s constitution guaranteeing free speech, the judge forbade the newspaper from publishing a court document relating to a judicial investigation for tax fraud, on pain of a \u20ac50,000 fine. This not an isolated instance of such judicial abuse in the lowland kingdom<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EESC is an advisory body to the European Union<\/a>, comprising representatives of employers\u2019 groups, trades unions and civil society organisations. It has 329 members drawn from these groups \u2013 many of whom were at the seminar. The Committee has a right to be consulted on much of the EU\u2019s work, and organises this annual event focussing on pressing concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AI \u2013 will news platforms be visible?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n New issues for journalism were also on the agenda. Alexandra Borchardt summarised the findings of her excellent study for the European Broadcasting Union \u2018Trusted Journalism In The Age Of Generative AI\u2019<\/a>. \u201cHow will audiences find media platforms in the future when you can just request the news from ChatGPT,\u201d she asked? \u201c(Even if they are found) traditional media could be swept up in general mistrust. We risk destroying all trust\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Jean-Paul Marthoz, columnist and former editor of Le Soir<\/em>, the panoply of perennial threats to publishing are journalism\u2019s most significant challenges \u2013 slaps, harassment, overbearing governments and physical threats by criminals. He promotes a purist approach to his trade. \u201cWe must separate emotions from facts, and be more assertive about the values and norms of journalism. (Emotional) tricks are a form of disrespect for the audience\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several younger contributors took issue with him, arguing that if news platforms are to engage with \u2018gen z\u2019 audiences, a very different approach is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the influencers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Gretel Kahn, for example, a journalist with the Reuters Institute said: \u201cNews influencers\u2019 can teach us how to reach young audiences. Traditional journalists have to speak to audiences in the language they use. Young audiences want conversation and connection.\u201d She noted that many potential entrants to journalism now bypass legacy media and set themselves up on TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One vision of what their news content might look like came from Rike Smit, from the German initiative Use The News<\/a>. It enables young people to create experimental news, largely on TikTok. \u201cWe use a story like the rising price of kebabs \u2013 a big issue for young Germans \u2013 to talk about inflation. Personalities work better than brands \u2013 young people rate authenticity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Croatia \u2013 fashionista storms the polls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nina Sko\u010dak<\/a> provided the most striking example of this. The 26-year-old Croatian influencer has over 300,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram. In a striking pivot from sharing lifestyle and fashion videos, she contested this year’s EU elections. With a ticket of gen z candidates supporting her, Sko\u010dak received four per cent of the national vote. Among 18 to 29 year olds, however, she took nearly a quarter of the vote, just two per cent short of the governing Christian Democratic Party (HDZ).<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cI want to communicate politics so that young people don\u2019t even realise that its politics\u201d, she said. \u201cYou can do that if you package issues though personality and fashion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among her campaign commitments was a demand for statutory leave for those experiencing menstrual pain. She promoted this with a \u2018Vox pop\u2019 TikTok video featuring men in the street wired to a \u2018period pain simulator\u2019. It deployed her character and humour in the service of a serious point, on a production budget of \u20ac40. Her whole campaign cost only \u20ac3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sko\u010dak promotes liberal policies, gives a strong impression of personal integrity, and says that she has lost paying clients as a result of entering politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenge of disinformation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But what happens when the \u2018terrible voices of the past\u2019 harness such engaging and compelling storytelling techniques? That shadow hung over the event, without being given full voice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The seminar itself, however, left no doubt that the EESC has the right issue in its sights. President, Oliver R\u00f6pke said: \u201cJournalism is a pillar of democracy, we need stronger mechanisms to safeguard journalists. The battle against disinformation is a growing challenge\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopefully, broadcasting these concerns to the wide constituency that Connecting EU reaches, is a significant step to quieting those resurgent horrors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/JeanPaulMarthoz-300x225.jpg\")
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