Jamie Oliver and Disinformation

Thank you very much. Let me start by thanking the Maltese Presidency for this event, before I forget. I may do it again at the end, but they deserve all our gratitude, for this event and for everything they are doing during their Presidency on democracy, especially in the context of the New Democratic Pact for Europe.

On your question, I think the Deputy Secretary General has already answered with great clarity, so I won't repeat what he said. Instead, I would like to make the link with what the Council of Europe is doing about it, and to explain the logic and the philosophy behind the Council of Europe's multi-layered approach. Because if we want to be effective in countering disinformation, it's not about doing this, or doing that, or doing something else. We need to do everything, together.

I thought I would go with Jamie Oliver. It's not the perfect analogy, but there are lessons to be learned, so bear with me.

You probably remember this — maybe you don't. He had a programme, Jamie's School Dinners, in the UK, and then Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in the US. Horrified by what pupils were being fed in schools, he wanted to change that. And he did two things. First, he stopped the bad stuff from coming into the cafeteria: the processed food, the trans fats, the hamburgers. And second, he replaced it with healthy food — with carrots and fruit and the like.

So far, the analogy works perfectly. Because if you are concerned about the health of our democracy, this is what you need to do. You need to stop the junk — disinformation — from coming in, and you need to replace it with quality information.

On the first, the Council of Europe has proposed the first-ever convention on disinformation and foreign interference. Jamie Oliver had it easier: there is no European convention on hamburgers and hot dogs. There is a lot on freedom of expression. But if anyone is able to pull off that delicate balance — countering disinformation without damaging or undermining freedom and democracy — I think it is the Council of Europe.

The second part is trickier. How do you replace the junk with quality information? Our information systems, the traditional media models, are under serious threat, first of all for economic reasons. There will be more discussion on that later, so I will not go into it now. But I think what is important is to recognise that quality information is a public good — and then to act accordingly: invest in it and protect it.

If we manage to do that, we will get to where Jamie Oliver got. And he failed. It was good television, but there is still junk in the school cafeterias, both in the US and in the UK.

Because what we are witnessing is not only the crisis of an economic model. It is a crisis of confidence. And that crisis of confidence did not come about spontaneously, or by coincidence, or organically. It was prompted, it was planned, and it was executed.

Maria Ressa, the Filipino journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago, said that when there is no agreement on facts in a society, you no longer have democracy. And I think the enemies of democracy know that. The way to destroy a modern democracy is to destroy our confidence in facts.

That is where the next pillar comes in: fact-checking and media literacy. All of these pillars are essential, and these two absolutely so. But again, they will not do the job on their own.

What do I mean by that? Imagine you are in a discussion on social media — and I strongly suggest you don't get into one — about some hot topic, with a group of very engaged people. And at the end you tell them: listen, guys, the problem is that you are media illiterate and you got your facts wrong. It's not going to work. We will not be able to fact-check people back into democracy.

Because this is a crisis of confidence, as I said, and of mistrust, nourished and driven by fear, uncertainty and frustration. We need to look at the reasons why, find answers to them, and then find ways to influence and shape those attitudes.

And this is where culture comes in. It is absolutely essential. We are talking about narratives, about transmitting values. Let me give you one example — and then I will finish, I promise. In 2011 there was a film in Serbia, supported by Eurimages, called Parada — The Parade — about the organisation of a Pride parade. That film, on its own, did more to defeat homophobia in that country and in the region than any political action or conference we could have organised. So don't underestimate culture. It is essential.

Secondly, youth. Young people are very often the first targets and victims of disinformation. But if we support them and invest in them, they can be the most effective first responders.

And finally, education. Education, education, education. We are talking about critical thinking, about competences, skills and values that we can transmit through education. And we are talking about history teaching, because history is weaponised through disinformation every day.

So, to finish, what I am trying to say is this. All the things I have mentioned, from the proposed convention to culture, are essential in their own right. But none of them will work on its own. That is the multi-layered approach, and this is where I think the Council of Europe can make a difference, because it brings all these different areas of work together. They are also reflected in the RESIST project, and I would like to thank the EEA and Norway Grants for supporting it, because it gives us the opportunity to put these policy orientations into practice in a very concrete way.

Thank you very much.