GEN Summit 2018: Combat misinformation

The CEO of the Tinius Trust, Kjersti Løken Stavrum, moderated a debate on news literacy on May 31st, during the […]

The CEO of the Tinius Trust, Kjersti Løken Stavrum, moderated a debate on news literacy on May 31st, during the GEN Summit 2018 in Lisbon. The main question was “How to understand and combat misinformation?”

Tens of millions were spent on fighting fake news and providing new tools to restore the trust between legacy media and their audiences. What strategies can newsrooms adopt to fight misinformation? While every country faced the problem at different scales and regarding different topics, misinformation spread across the world with what seems like an unstoppable force. But this a fight journalists can’t afford to lose and many newsrooms are adopting strategies that may hold the key to deal with the phenomenon.

One of the panelists, Dan Gillmor, Professor at Arizona State University’s and author, gave clear recommendations to the audience:

The idea of taking your time. That’s a really good skill. Don’t believe everything right away. Intense scepticism is necessary. Judgement is necessary. Going outside you own comfort zone for information is necessary.

Another one of the panelists, Aroon Purie, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of the India Today Group, challenges the mindset of the public:

We should question ourselves in terms of how much is there an appetite for the truth. Is the public really wanting to know the truth? Are the willing to pay for the truth? Or are they just happy to get stuff that confirms their bias?

Below you can watch a short summary:

GEN Summit 2018: Combat misinformation from Tinius Trust on Vimeo.

You can also read more information on

GEN Summit 2018.

Credit header picture: © DLD Conference.