The Ministry for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation is hosting both today and tomorrow the 'IV Meeting of Journalists Africa-Spain', this year dedicated to the information that flows between Europe and Africa, on occasion of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Organised alongside Casa África and co-sponsored by the European External Action Service and the ANESVAD foundation, this meeting aims to encourage joint reflection between African and European journalists regarding the role of information technologies in the forming of European public opinion on Africa and vice versa, as well as reciprocal "narratives"; and the challenges that both continents face today in this area, such as disinformation and manipulation.
Over the course of two days, the meeting will bring together leading European and African journalists, analysts and experts in communication, cybersecurity and information technology in an attempt to find an answer to the question "what can Europeans and Africans do to ensure that the available technologies increase the transparency and quality of information available to citizens in their respective societies?”.
This will involve promoting a dialogue on the risks that disinformation poses to the relationship between Europeans and Africans, and how to inhibit the action of those who promote or use it for their own purposes. The working sessions will also address, in a cooperative manner, the self-serving propagation of negative "narratives" and stereotypes.
The meeting has also set forth the goal of facilitating contacts between European and African journalists in order to improve the knowledge of their respective contexts: a goal that has already been successfully pursued in the three previous editions and which has contributed towards generating networks between Spanish and African journalists, thus creating community and exchanging concerns, tools and contacts.
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PHOTOS: Nancy Dimitrova (Nolsom)