The project’s first open call just ended and the selected participants are about to begin their journey on board of MediaFutures.
They will contribute to reshape the media value chain and address challenges that the media landscape encounters through innovative solutions. Freedom of expression is core features of MediaFutures and will be a key aspect in the support and guidance provided to the participants in their journey with us.
The evolution of the media world raises question on how to deal with participatory media, user-generated content, media objectivity, vulnerability to manipulation, the erosion of public trust in media, the spread of fake news or hate speech, the quality and integrity of online news reporting,… When designing solutions to these challenges, freedom of expression, media pluralism and the right of citizens to diverse and reliable information should be carefully taken into consideration.
Through the trainings catalogue which will be offered to participants, the project will raise awareness regarding how technology could be misused to micro-target groups of people in order to manipulate their newsfeed and influence their beliefs and choices, or to limit the dissemination of lawful online material for censorship purposes.
More precisely the following trainings will have a strong focus on educating about freedom of expression, the scope of its entitlements but of its limits as well. The issue of censorship will receive a particular attention.
- Freedom of expression and right to information explained
- Media Regulation in Europe (Part I)
- Media Regulation in Europe (Part II)
- The use of AI in media: a legal and ethical perspective
KUL’s team is following the EU legislative and non-legislative initiatives in the field of media and will provide insights on the existing ones to the participants but also on the forthcoming ones. The Digital Services Act proposal, the further guidance for the Code of practice on disinformation and the legislative proposal on AI (late April) will be decrypted to participants as well as their impact for freedom of expression in the media landscape.
Their law blog is regularly commenting on some of the hot topics related to media law and freedom of expression, don’t hesitate to have a look.