U.S. NEWS With his country’s elections rapidly approaching, Tomáš Prouza says public interest is high for a new unit designed to confront the latest iteration of a decades-old problem: media propaganda from larger, outside powers.This month the Czech government launched a specialized anti-fake news unit with the goal of educating the public of the difference between news and disinformation. The country is among the continent’s first to embark on such an initiative and officials here want to reduce public consumption of such sources ahead of legislative elections scheduled for October.
In recent months, countries like Sweden, Germany and France flagged a marked uptick in fake news websites, but with no precedent to combat the problem, media outlets and government leaders are turning to an unconventional choice to help guide them past the threat: the Czech Republic.
„It has generated a lot of interest outside of the Czech Republic,“ says Prouza, the Czech state secretary for European affairs and Czech digital coordinator who helped establish the unit. Prouza says his team has been advising officials in Sweden, Finland and Germany on how to set up similar operations.
He also says they have consulted with international media outlets like the BBC. Last week, they announced they would assemble a team to fact check and debunk deliberately misleading and false stories. „We are in the lead on this, so that is important.“
More than 40 Czech fake news websites have launched in the past two years, with the purpose of undermining the democratic process, says Prouza. The sites routinely cover topics dominating politics across the continent: the Syrian war and the subsequent crisis of refugees spilling into Europe, blame for the Ukrainian conflict and the rise of nationalism.
The origin of such websites is obscure, but Prouza points to the Russian state-funded outlet Sputnik as an example. Widely criticized in the mainstream media, much of the website’s coverage aggregates news that looks favorably on Russia, while highlighting Washington’s missteps around the world.
Opened on Jan. 1, the Center Against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats is notifying the public of disinformation and providing relevant expert analysis. What it will not do is take down any websites, or „lock anyone up,“ according to its website.
They will be starting from behind. According to Kremlin Watch, a local think tank, 25 percent of the 10.5 million people in the country accept disinformation sources.
„General trust in public media and serious journalism is being continuously undermined, which helps to create an atmosphere of chaos and fear,“ says Veronika Víchová, a member of the group.
The unit will be working in a climate of populist politics. Czech President Miloš Zeman, who is notably cozy with Russia, told Czechs during his annual Christmas speech that migrants are responsible for terrorism.
With politicians cultivating uncertainty, public opinion is changing in a country that was once staunchly pro-U.S. According to a study last month, half of Czechs believe the U.S. is to blame for the Syrian crisis, while 28 percent believe Russia is helping solve the fighting. In Ukraine – where Russia forcibly annexed the Crimea in March 2014 – 38 percent surveyed believe that that crisis was caused by the United Kingdom and the U.S.
„It is because of Zeman that the less educated people who do not have much knowledge of these things… start believing in it,“ says Josef Bilek, chairman of the East European Information Center (EEIC).
Like the new government unit, the EEIC seeks to disprove false news by posting debunking evidence online, something that has irritated its political opponents.
„Every time we put out a story that the Russians don’t like, suddenly there are comments from people we have never seen before, coming with quite vitriolic comments,“ Bilek says.
Regardless of the rise of fake news, Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, remain decidedly unpopular in the Czech Republic.
„[Russia’s] main interest is to get the Yankees out of Europe,“ says Gen. Andor Sandor, the former chief of Czech Defense Intelligence.“Their major enemy is NATO and a weaker NATO is better for the Russians, and they will obviously use their propaganda and intelligence or whatever in countries that are considered to be weak points.“
Still, Sandor says he is skeptical that disinformation could have any real impact on the upcoming elections, and even more skeptical that the new government unit will solve anything.
