Wave of Fake News 'Fuelling Divisions' in Romania

By Ana Maria Touma | BIRN BucharestThe AFP report said the Social Democratic-led government’s attempt in January to weaken anti-corruption legislation unleashed a wave of protests that forced an about-turn by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu - but had also unleashed a wave of truth-stretching reports by pro-government broadcasters.Romanian media experts say news websites and even some national TV stations routinely make up news stories, partly because Facebook brings in easy traffic while Google brings them advertising.Journalists and activists say Romanian politicians also fuel the boom in fake stories with so-called "alternative facts".While Romania’s audiovisual regulator, the CNA, has begun fining television stations airing fake and unverified news, civil society activists and programmers are trying to develop online tools to point out fake news sources.The CNA received over 2,000 complaints in January and February alone, nearly 10 times the number in the same period in 2016. The body also fined several television stations for airing fake news or for allowing fake information on air without questioning the source.News channel Romania TV was fined more than 6,000 euros for airing a fake video during the election campaign in 2016, which claimed that the demonstrators who brought down Victor Ponta’s centre-left government in 2015 had been paid by wealthy philanthropist George Soros. Romania TV as well as another news channel, Antena 3, temporarily lost 70-80 of their advertisers in February during the anti-government protests for their biased coverage and for allowing politicians to spread false information without asking for any evidence.During the past year, other fake news pieces have gone viral on social media, prompting many jokes but also raising concern.Some said former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and his spouse were both members of a sex cult, for example.When it comes to websites, Romania has no regulatory body to look at the quality of information.For this reason, a group of young Romanian programmers decided in mid-February to come up with a way of warning readers about websites notorious for spreading fake news.They put together a list of 70 websites and came up with a Google Chrome extension called "Not to believe", which warns readers by displaying a message on a red banner: "Do some research before you believe it! Verify the information from other sources.""We try to be as objective as possible in our work. We are politically unaffiliated and we don’t have any hidden agenda. We just support objective news websites," the team said, explaining their motivation.Fake news can fuel anti-foreigner sentiments and worsen political divisions, Cristian Pantazi, editor in chief of Hotnews website, said, explaining that the February protests in Romania showed how fake news can heavily influence the political discourse. During the protests, the ruling Social Democrats and their allies used different stories against the protesters, including that multinational companies were behind the protests or that Romania was about to break up like Ukraine."The first idea, the involvement of multinational companies, was issued from the top by Social Democrat chief Liviu Dragnea as well by as the head of the Intelligence Commission Adrian Tutuianu," Pantazi wrote, adding that the claims were demonstrably fake.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/fake-news-fuel-political-divisions-in-romania-04-03-2017