Project “Pro-fact: Research, education, fact-check and debunk COVID-19 related disinformation narratives in Croatia” is tackling disinformation related to COVID-19 on multiple levels through a multidisciplinary and intersectoral approach, with the goal of understanding COVID-19 related disinformation, its spreading and influence on democracy and society. As an effective response to the challenges for democracy and society, the project sees a combination of different expertise and methods - attacking sources/actors, networks, reasoning, and disinformation narratives from different spheres and combining techniques.
Through research, awareness raising, and capacity-building methods, the project comprehensively approaches the social, political, and health problem of spreading disinformation campaigns related to COVID-19.
Results of the implemented activities will contribute to the objectives:
- Efficiently exposed COVID-19 related disinformation campaigns in Croatia through research, debunking, and dissemination,
- Strengthened capacities of the multidisciplinary team in Croatia for detecting and combating disinformation campaigns through the exchange of expertise and networking,
- Increased media literacy competencies of journalists and the general public in Croatia, with the focus on fact-checking of COVID-19 related disinformation, through educational resources and campaigns.
The coordinator of the project is Gong, with the partners being the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb, University of Dubrovnik, Faktograf.hr, and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing.
Research includes the use of the snowball method, social network analysis, visual network analysis, dynamic network analysis, active learning methods, semantical analysis of text method, quantitative and qualitative content analysis, surveys, focus groups, interviews, and experiments.
Awareness raising will be achieved through research result promotion, online campaigns, public event organisation, and through cooperation with media organisations, as well as with journalists.
Capacity building will be accomplished with partner cooperation, as well as through the organisation of training for journalists and journalism students, creation of a guidebook for employees in the media, and recommendations for safe and responsible journalism in crisis times.
