Abstract:

Online disinformation is a pervasive phenomenon that can negatively affect multiple stakeholders and needs a comprehensive approach supported by public actors and society as a whole. Even if online disinformation is ubiquitous, the practices used for tackling it are not implemented homogeneously across the European Union, without always being translated into public policies, regulation, or even compulsory media literacy courses in every member state. National measures to fight disinformation are not universally accepted by all stakeholders, and lack standardization. In Romania, initiatives to counter fake or misleading content are still in their early stages, with a limited understanding of the bigger picture and practical implications.

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the current understandings of online disinformation, its effects, and what measures need to be implemented to counter the phenomenon in Romania. To this end, we explored the topic through 10 in-depth expert interviews conducted between January and March 2022 with journalists, media experts, and decision-makers. The research questions focus on the experts’ perceptions about the effects of disinformation in Romania, their opinions on current practices to fight disinformation in Romania (media literacy, media regulation, fact-checking, policies), and views on the most effective solutions to fight disinformation.

The findings illustrate disinformation as a complex phenomenon that involves diverse actors motivated by financial and political gains, and suggest there is a mutual understanding among experts regarding the concept, its forms of manifestation in the digital public sphere, and the social harm it inflicts. Experts also agree more should be done in terms of priority actions (i.e. Media Literacy projects, fact checking, and developing critical thinking skills to help citizens navigate the virtual realm filled with doctored content, educational policies, regulation and professional standards). A joint effort between academia, public institutions, and decision-makers can lead to insightful projects, public policies, and better containment of the phenomenon. The article concludes that in responding to such a complex phenomenon, Romania needs to accelerate its efforts against disinformation through education, institutional support, and extensive research on the topic of fake news.

Keywords:

Media literacy, fake news, countering online disinformation, qualitative research.