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The Citizen
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
African Media unite to tackle climate disinformation
On July 24, at the Goethe Institut in Parkwood, leading African media voices, international experts, and advocates gathered to confront a critical and often overlooked threat… Climate disinformation. The event: Fighting Climate Disinformation: Information Integrity for Climate Change and the Role of African Media, was hosted by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), in partnership with the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), the Forum on Information and Democracy (FID), the International Press Institute (IPI), and BrandSA. It highlighted how, as the impacts of climate change intensify, the spread of falsehoods and misleading narratives is undermining public understanding, delaying the urgent action needed to protect vulnerable communities. Also read: Parktown North comedian Costa Carastavrakis brings new show to Melrose Arch Speakers warned that Africa, already affected by climate change, cannot afford to lose the truth battle. AI and disinformation campaigns have created an information crisis that risks policy, public trust, and resilience. There's an urgent call for African journalists to challenge false narratives and explore the 'why' behind stories, especially regarding corporate greenwashing and manipulation. The dialogue highlighted the importance of youth empowerment through media literacy, noting that young people with critical thinking skills are less susceptible to misinformation. Many, however, struggle to evaluate climate information, leading to emotional reactions and disconnection. The discussion stressed the need for integrating climate education and digital literacy in schools, while encouraging civil society and businesses to fund community workshops that promote informed engagement. Also read: The G20 audiovisual advert highlights solidarity, equality, and sustainability The event highlighted the G20's growing recognition of information integrity as crucial to climate justice, with Brazil spearheading initiatives in this area. Panellists emphasised that social media platforms must take greater responsibility in combating harmful content, calling for increased support for journalists facing harassment when investigating environmental issues. They concluded that truthful storytelling is essential for achieving climate justice, as the media's role extends beyond informing, to inspiring action, with each accurate report contributing to the protection of the planet and public trust. Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration!
Daily Maverick
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Africa needs a voice on information integrity and media freedom at G20 Summit
South Africa's G20 presidency shouldn't drop the baton passed by Brazil on this crucial issue that underpins good governance. As leaders of the world's major economies prepare for the November G20 Johannesburg Summit, champions of South Africa's journalism industry are working to ensure that information integrity and media freedom are not overlooked. The two issues are inextricably linked, argue Media Monitoring Africa and the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef). Together, the two organisations are spearheading Media20 (M20) in the lead-up to the G20 talks, to highlight the issues. The United Nations (UN) Global Principles for Information Integrity put freedom of expression, accuracy, reliability and an independent, free and pluralistic media centre-stage. M20 highlights the blind spots in the new artificial intelligence (AI) landscape – especially how citizens receive news and fact-based information online. It warns that 'current trends foresee an increase in low-quality and false information, with increasing AI 'hallucinations' and deceptive deepfakes being produced and circulated'. Traditional journalism is considered an antidote to such falsehoods as 'it debunks lies and exposes information operations', say M20 campaigners. It also 'contributes reliable news and informed comment into the public information ecosystem'. Yet traditional journalism is under threat, with newsrooms struggling to compete with digital platforms due to a complex mix of business, technical and content challenges. Press freedom in G20 countries, 2015-2025 M20 is timely considering that many G20 countries exhibit reduced media freedom, driven by political and economic factors. The recent World Press Freedom Index puts major democracies, including the US and India, in the spotlight (see graph). The defunding of media outlets and newsroom closures such as that of Voice of America, are a significant concern, given their role in highlighting international issues to a broad audience and providing a bulwark against 'fake news'. Furthermore, the index's authors say the US is 'experiencing its first significant and prolonged decline in press freedom in modern history', with more than double the number of journalists arrested in the US than a year ago. Likewise, the index reveals that 80% of the African news networks surveyed have seen their economic indicators 'drop'. This means their subsidies and advertising revenues have declined in the past year, leading some to 'self-censor' for fear of future funding cuts. That doesn't bode well for M20's efforts to campaign on media freedom and integrity at the G20 meetings. At last year's G20 in Brazil, information integrity was prioritised, culminating in a ministerial declaration that without information integrity, trust in public institutions and democracy 'may be affected with negative effects on social cohesion and economic prosperity' and human rights. Many saw it as a bold move. In contrast, under South Africa's G20 presidency, the issue has been somewhat relegated, struggling to get onto the agenda. M20 campaigners note just one 'high-level presentation' on AI-generated deepfakes at a workshop in June as part of the G20 Digital Economy Working Group. 'We do have good relations with the South African government,' says Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird, noting that Pretoria welcomed the M20 campaign. But ultimately 'we want to get information integrity formalised into one of the G20 tracks in future'. That might be a big ask given the range of economic- and development-focused topics the G20 is currently tasked with. However, M20 has found an ally in the French mission to South Africa. Ambassador David Martinon recently hosted a dialogue with other African media policy organisations to 'place media sustainability, independent journalism and information integrity on the global agenda'. While M20 will be confined to the fringes of the heads of state meeting, the French delegation could be a useful vehicle to amplify the issue, albeit informally. In an era of what is often dubbed 'fake news' – but which experts prefer to call 'coordinated inauthentic behaviour' – the language of the information landscape has adopted a more considered definition. It highlights not only inauthentic content but also how algorithms, hate speech and AI-generated deepfakes can pollute the information space, tinkering with content and how it's delivered to us. Bird's efforts to raise the profile of this issue at the Johannesburg G20 are something of a placeholder – with an eye on next year's summit in the US. 'This is a way of providing a base so that work in the US can be built on this,' he says, fearful that under a US G20 presidency the issue could be downplayed or ignored. He says the US administration's record on supporting independent media, including executive orders related to funding public service broadcasters, does not inspire confidence. Although this year's G20 has no working group dedicated to information integrity, the digital economy working group touches on digital innovation and equitable, inclusive and just artificial intelligence. Of course, the G20 is not the only forum to raise such issues. An inquiry by South Africa's Competition Commission identifies generative AI, digital advertising, social media and search engines as challenges to media viability in terms of running media companies and delivering public interest journalism. Research ICT Africa provided expert testimony to that inquiry, highlighting the lack of a level playing field, which disadvantages the Global South. It speaks of big platforms like Meta, X and TikTok having 'algorithm designs that favour foreign media over local sources, subscription models over free content, and YouTube over South African broadcasters'. This undermines local journalism and privileges values and priorities that favour the Global North over the Global South. 'What we are trying to do is future-proof our journalism,' argues Sanef's Izak Minnaar. 'We want global media development issues to focus on Africa and the Global South.' The Competition Commission's inquiry provides leverage for some issues raised by M20. Those behind the campaign want to highlight the journalism aspect of the new media landscape – and not limit it to issues of business equity and media viability. An M20 information integrity summit is scheduled for September in Johannesburg, and more analysis is under way on gender-based violence, online safety and child protection, and journalism as a public good. In this context, information integrity will no doubt become an essential backdrop to the G20 Summit – one of the most important annual events on the geopolitical agenda. DM
Daily Maverick
03-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
G20 alert — the assault on information integrity is intensifying
The Group of 20 is easily dismissed as a talk shop with little substance. The gathering of ministers and heads of state of the world's richest economies is dissed for being a bloated bureaucracy, a clubby talkshop that lacks legitimacy, inclusivity and impact. It passes by the general public annually as background noise. But thanks to Donald Trump and his theatrical threats, it is well known not only in South Africa but globally that this year's G20 is being hosted by President Cyril Ramaphosa – the first time an African head of state has been handed the honour. What remains background noise are the engagements taking place weekly in the build-up to the G20 Summit in November, which is centred on three core themes: solidarity, equality and sustainability. Just take a glance at the packed G20 calendar to get an idea of the weighty agenda right now. The G20 programme encompasses 13 engagement subgroups from an array of interests, including the O20 (Oceans), C20 (Civil), W20 (Women), B20 (Business) and Y20 (Youth). The absence of Media in the formal structure is conspicuous. But no matter, the media has a window of opportunity to nudge public interest issues onto the agenda, and into key declarations, through the creation of its own M20. The M20 is a parallel, collaborative initiative operating outside the G20 tent. This year, it has been initiated by the SA National Editors' Forum, Media Monitoring Africa and other partners. Key media issues elevated during the Brazil G20 presidency in 2024 are being pursued again. Priorities are information integrity, artificial intelligence, copyright, sustainability and climate reporting. The starting blocks are already in place, emerging from the 2024 G20. The Digital Economy Working Group published a declaration that incorporates attention to the importance of digital inclusion for all, and the Brazilian government launched a Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. There is an urgency to build on these gains, especially at a time of heightened unaccountability, counterfeit journalists, deepfakes, bullying, attacks on journalists and a daily struggle by the media to stay afloat. It is hard to keep track of the assaults on media and threats to information integrity. This week, for instance, a journalist in Ethiopia, Ahmed Awga, was given a two-year jail sentence for ' disseminating hateful information via a Facebook post he did not author'. In South Africa, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection issued a 'fake news' alert after an analysis about the interest of Elon Musk's Starlink in South Africa was circulated on X under the false pretence that it was penned by its executive director, Joel Netshitenzhe. Also in South Africa, word broke that the Mail & Guardian, which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary of gutsy investigative journalism, is on its knees and slashing jobs to stay afloat. In the US, all remaining staff at Voice of America were expecting termination notices, 'effectively shutting down the international broadcasting network, according to Politico. Yet, against this disruptive backdrop, the first published M20 policy brief notes that the G20 programme gives less attention to information integrity this year compared with 2024. The G20 will, however, host a workshop on generative AI 'and its evolving ability to produce high-quality deepfakes at a lower cost, and the impact on information integrity, and consideration of possible recommendations'. The policy brief, which is open for comment, spells out both the potential for the G20 to make a difference, and the threat in the media space right now: 'Media engagement on the G20's interest in 'information integrity' can make a difference as to whether journalism's strength and standing can make gains – or if current troubling media trends stay as they are, or go more horribly wrong.' Right now, the outlook is bleak. The public interest media space is wilting, as the offensive against information integrity is advancing. Now is not the time to let cynicism silence a call to action. DM Janet Heard is involved in the M20 initiative. She writes in her personal capacity.
