Contemporary Media, Fake news and Democracy

Track 1 - Shaping sustainable societies. Workshop from 14:50-16:20

Have you ever searched for “Finland” and “Fake News” ?

You are mostly likely to see following results: “Finland is winning the war on fake news”, “How Finland is fighting fake news in the classroom?”, “Finnish kids are better at spotting fake news than Americans”, “Fake News: 3 Things We Can Learn From Finland”, “Finland is Beating Fake News”…

In this workshop, we will wonder if the situation is as straightforward and clear as it seems to be. Is Finland truly a to-be-followed example in fighting Fake News? If yes, is there a magical recipe? If not, what could Finland do better?

What is the role of media in fighting (or echoing) Fake News? How journalists and news media in Finland have explained and responded to the fake news phenomenon?

As a background to our discussions, we will keep in mind the big picture and touch upon the impact of Fake News on Political Discourse and Democracy.

Speakers include:

Heikki Heikkilä, Senior Researcher, University of Tampere. He lately contributed to the book “Media Accountability in the Era of PostTruth Politics - European Challenges and Perspectives” with a chapter untitled "Media accountability in the era of fake news".
Petra Piitulainen Ramsay, editor, Faktabaari. Faktabaari is an awarded Finnish fact checking service bringing accuracy especially to the public election debates. Faktabaari is a nonpartisan journalistic service using social media for collecting and distributing factual information with crowds.
Olli Seuri, Finnish journalist and a journalism researcher. Currently, Olli works as a Professor of Practice in Tampere University. He has a strong background in news and current affairs journalism in legacy media. In the last few years he has immersed himself in media crisis, future of audio, and interviewing as a journalistic method. He has been awarded The Bonnier Grand Journalist Prize for Journalist of the Year 2017.

The workshop will be facilitated by Martin Fougère, Associate Professor in Politics and Business, Hanken School of Economics.