The Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in partnership with Democracy Plus (D+) held a roundtable on “Fake News, a Threat to Democracy”.

Granit Ternava, Program Manager at KAS, said that fake news are a threat to democracy, but said it was important that the media do not give coverage to such news items.  On the eve of the October 6 elections, Ternava asked the leaders to refrain from using such news for votes.

Leart Hoxha, chairman of the D+ board, who facilitated the roundtable, presented the brochure of the organization featuring forms of fake news distribution.

Bardh Rugova, a professor in the Department of Albanian Language at the University of Pristina “Hasan Prishtina”, said the threat of fake news is greater than thought.  According to him, we live in a society where there is no thought. “On the one hand we have freedom of expression and on the other we have fake news.”

Kreshnik Gashi, editor-in-chief of Justice in Kosovo, said particularly now during the election campaign there is a huge investment in political parties supporting and reinforcing fake news, especially through portals.

Driart Elshani, a cyber security expert, stressed the need to combat the “fake news” phenomenon, saying that coordination is needed on a global and local level to combat it.

The Democracy Plus brochure, launched at this roundtable, explaining how we can identify fake news through the author’s name, the origin of the publication, photography and video, and sponsorship, is found on this link: http://bit.do/fbgJS.