Melita Vrsaljko and her cameraman were physically attacked twice on July 15. Melita is a journalist living in a small town in Croatia and had recently covered several environmental issues, including an alleged illegal dumping in her own town, which seemed to have infuriated the owners of those facilities prompting the alleged assault.

But this case goes beyond what appears to be an isolated incident. Melita works for Faktograf, one of the leading fact-checking organizations in Croatia, which has faced online threats and smear campaigns by political actors for years. However, the organization has seen a significant increase in such attacks since launching the Climate Portal a few months ago. This project monitors all disinformation campaigns and bad practices related to the climate emergency.

Unfortunately, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to Croatia. “Climate and Environmental Journalism Under Fire,” an extensive report published by the International Press Institute in 2023, compiles similar experiences from nearly 40 environmental and climate journalists in 21 countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The report explores the specific challenges faced by freelancers and local journalists and examines the impact of the failure of the rule of law and public-sector corruption.

Our guest today is Petar Vidov, editor-in-chief of Faktograf, and we’ll be discussing the attacks on Faktograf for their work debunking false news related to the climate crisis.

• IPI-led Decoding Disinformation project

Episode 1: How Austria’s far right sows distrust in media

Episode 2: France at tilting point as journalists face far-right disinfo attacks

Episode 1: Setting the Scene

Episode 2: How journalists investigate the far right

Episode 3: Fact-checkers targeted by populists in Europe

Episode 4: When disinformation campaigns fuel hate and harassment

Episode 5: Alexander Roth – Smeared and threatened by the far-right next door

Episode 6: Franziska Tschinderle – Attacked by Orbán’s state media

Guest: Petar Vidov, Editor-in-Vhief, Faktograf, Croatia.Producer and host: Javier Luque, head of digital communications at IPIRelated links mentioned in the episode:Other episodes in this series:Season 2Season 1

The far right in France has long been on the rise, but the first round of parliamentary elections has brought them closer than ever to gaining power. They have capitalized on bread-and-butter issues such as the cost of living and social reforms to appeal to voters. But disinformation has also played a role in their success. Supporters have deployed tactics such as mirroring websites and spreading misleading narratives. Among those targeted: journalists and fact-checkers, who have faced online harassment and threats. Our guest is Marie Bohner, head of development and partnerships, digital investigations at Agence France-Presse (AFP). We talked with Bohner about disinformation trends and intimidation tactics used to silence critical journalism in the country. The conversation, hosted by Javier Luque, IPI Head of Digital Communications, was recorded just days before the second round of elections in France, the results of which could have significant implications for the country’s media landscape and for the European Union.

IPI kicks off the first episode of the second season of "Decoding Disinformation" with a compelling conversation about the rise of extremism in Austria, where the Freedom Party (FPÖ) recently won the European Elections (2024). Their victory is rooted in rhetoric based on false narratives against immigration and independent media, among other issues.

Our guest is Austrian journalist Ingrid Brodnig, one of the country's leading experts on far-right movements and online disinformation. We'll explore the strategies these parties use to depict a global power working against the people. In these conspiratorial narratives, the media is often labeled as being mouthpieces at the service of these powers, fostering a pervasive distrust in mainstream media.

As Austria heads towards its upcoming parliamentary elections in September, the rhetoric against the media is expected to escalate. Ingrid will help us understand the global implications of these trends and draw parallels with populist movements in other countries.

Join us for this insightful conversation hosted by Javier Luque, Head of Digital Communications at IPI, as we decode the disinformation shaping the political landscape in Austria and beyond.

Key takeaways:

• Migration and the COVID-19 pandemic have played a significant role in the increasing support for extremist political parties in Austria, such as the Freedom Party.
• False narratives, including conspiracy theories, are used by these parties to create a sense of distrust in mainstream media and portray an elite working against the people.
• Social media plays a crucial role in spreading these false narratives and mobilizing supporters.
• The upcoming parliamentary elections in Austria are expected to further intensify the rhetoric against the media.
• The global rise of populist movements, characterized by aggressive communication styles and attacks on journalists, can be observed in Austria as well.

Understanding the factors that shape the public debate is crucial in addressing the spread of disinformation during heated political campaigns.

Guests: Ingrid Brodnig, Columnist at Profil and book author expert of online extremism.

Producer and Host: Javier Luque, head of digital communications at IPI.

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• IPI-led Decoding Disinformation project

Episode 1: Setting the Scene

Episode 2: How journalists investigate the far right

Episode 3: Fact-checkers targeted by populists in Europe

Episode 4: When disinformation campaigns fuel hate and harassment

Episode 5: Alexander Roth - Smeared and threatened by the far-right next door

Episode 6: Franziska Tschinderle - Attacked by Orbán's state media

Related links mentioned in the episode:Other episodes in this series:Season 1

Austrian reporter Franziska Tschinderle was smeared and discredited for five days in a row on Hungary's most important TV news broadcast simply for doing her job.

The campaign targeting Tschinderle is the subject of a new investigation published today by the German newspaper taz as part of the IPI-led Decoding Disinformation Playbook project. Over the course of a year, a team of taz journalists spoke with former high-ranking employees of the state media system in Hungary as well as academics, activists, and politicians. Their research shows how government-controlled private and state media in Hungary are being weaponised to intimidate critical voices.

In this episode, we will delve into the case of Tschinderle with the protagonist herself and a group of investigative journalists from the German newspaper Taz investigative unit, Christian Jakob, Jean-Philipp Baeck and Luisa Kuhn, on how they conducted the investigation into his case.

What's it like to work as a journalist in Germany with far-right groups living next door?

Alexander Roth is deputy editor of the online edition of Waiblinger Zeitung, in the outskirts of Stuttgart, one of the strongholds of the far-right and conspiracy movements of the so-called Reichsbürger scene, considered by Germany the single most prominent threat to its democracy.

Roth has been investigating these movements since the onset of the pandemic, exposing the links between the far-right, its political arm and anti-vaxx groups. His work has made him a preferred target of this movement, which frequently shouts out his name at rallies which, in turn, has triggered a barrage of veiled death threats and smear campaigns that labeled Roth as a mouthpiece of a corrupt elite.

Hear in this episode from Roth about his own experience but also from the journalists of the TAZ investigative unit, Christian Jakob, Jean-Philipp Baeck and Luisa Kuhn, on how they conducted the investigation into his case.

Guests: Alexander Roth, Christian Jakob, Jean-Philipp Baeck and Luisa Kuhn.

Producer and Host: Javier Luque, head of digital communications at IPI.

Link to the full report: Alexander Roth - Smeared and threatened by the far-right next door

Media outlets and fact-checking organizations are increasingly the target of online attacks and smear campaigns by populist and extremist groups. The next four episodes will feature the results of the investigation that IPI, Faktograf and the German daily taz have conducted in the last few months. Each case study looks into the type of attacks, the narratives, and the network of actors behind smear campaigns and acts of intimidation intended to silence journalists and fact-checkers in Spain, Germany, Hungary and Croatia.

This episode dives into the case study of Faktograf, a fact-checking organization in Croatia. Since its foundation in 2015, Faktograf has been targeted with online threats. However, when the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt in 2020, the attacks became an avalanche. As a partner of Meta's Third-Party Fact-Checking Program in Croatia, Faktograf was at the forefront of flagging false information on Facebook.

The attacks on Faktograf - as often happens in these cases - were not limited to social media. They faced SLAPP lawsuits and were targeted by propaganda websites that labelled the outlet as a "censor". The vitriol against Faktograf soon risked spilling over into physical violence. In November 2022, police arrested a man accused of plotting a terrorist attack against different influential figures in Croatia. Petar Vidov, editor-in-chief of Faktograf, was included in the man's hitlist.

Listen to the interview with Vidov and Tajana Broz, program coordinator at Faktograf, who conducted the investigation of this case study.

Guests: Tajana Broz and Petar Vidov, programme coordinator and editor-in-chief at Faktograf, respectively.

Producer and editor: Javier Luque, head of digital communications at IPI.

Related links mentioned in the episode:

• Case Study: Faktograf - Full report here
• Survey final results and recommendations
• IPI's Decoding Disinformation project

Other episodes in this series:

Episode 1: Setting the Scene

Episode 2: How journalists investigate the far right

Episode 3: Fact-checkers targeted by populists in Europe

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This podcast series is part of the project Decoding the disinformation playbook of populism in Europe, which is supported by the European Media and Information Fund, managed by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Disclaimer:

The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.

Fact-checkers are at the forefront of combating disinformation. They work to verify the claims of politicians or public figures, which is especially important in the heat of electoral campaigns, and proved to be essential in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, where accurate information saved lives.

Precisely because they are at the forefront, fact-checkers are also easily targeted with smear campaigns and other online and offline intimidation tactics intended to discredit their work. But we wanted to put numbers to this trend. To mark International Fact-Checking Day, last April 2, Faktograf, a Croatian fact-checking outlet, published the preliminary results from a pioneering survey that explores the impact of harassment and disinformation targeting fact-checking organisations in Europe. 

The results didn’t shock us but are quite revealing: Nearly all the fact-checking organisations that participated in the survey experienced smear campaigns and online abuse from politicians, government officials, media pundits or public figures. And more than half have experienced this type of attack repeatedly.

Guests: Ana Brakus, the executive director of Faktograf, and Tijana Cvjetićanin, author of the survey and researcher at Why not association.

Producer and editor: Javier Luque, head of digital communications at IPI.

Related links mentioned in the episode:

• Survey preliminary results and key findings: https://ipi.media/harassed-threatened-and-sued-the-state-of-fact-checking-in-europe/
• IPI's Decoding Disinformation project: https://ipi.media/decoding-disinformation-playbook/

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This podcast series is part of the project Decoding the disinformation playbook of populism in Europe, which is supported by the European Media and Information Fund, managed by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Disclaimer:

The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.

Far-right has become a real threat to democracy in Germany, according to the authorities. In this episode, we look into the first steps that investigative journalists take to unmask far-right rings and how these groups instrumentalise disinformation to provoke anger.

Decoding Disinformation is a podcast series about how a group of journalists are investigating the strategies used by populists and extremist groups to divert attention from facts, create noise and, ultimately, generate uncertainty.

Visit our page: https://ipi.media/decoding-disinformation-playbook/