Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS) in partnership with Institut für Europäische Politik based in Berlin (IEP) and Institute for European Politics and Reform (IPRE) have launched a media course for young people, which is held within the project “infoMD – against misinformation in Moldova”.

The first module of the course, attended by more than 20 young activists from the Republic of Moldova, focused on the role of independent media in building a democratic society and on the phenomenon of misinformation in traditional media.

During the first meeting, which took place on July 15, 2021, Simion Ciocină, media expert at IPRE, talked about the free and on the other hand politically controlled press, the role of media and the function of the independent press, the difference between true and false news, t the methods of manipulation in media and about the role of civil society in fighting against false news.

In the second session, which took place on July 22, 2021, the special guest of the course was Mădălin Necșuțu, journalist of the portal veridica.ro, who prepared an overview of recent false news. In addition, participants learned why the Republic of Moldova remains vulnerable to disinformation, who creates the main flow of false news – external or internal players, and what are the practices of combating disinformation.

The media course consists of four modules, and the next meeting will take place in September 2021.

The project “informMD – Against Disinformation in the Republic of Moldova”  is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.