b'EDITORS MESSAGEYOU ARE MYTH TAKEN:FAKE NEWS IS ALL AROUND USnearly doubled over the past 10 years,people active on social media often share with 65 per cent of individuals aged 16 tofake news unintentionally because they 75 consuming news online in 2020. Also,believe it, and therefore the problem of more specifically on health advice, theinaccurate and misleading information is internet has become an important source.so widespread.In the EU in 2020, 49 per cent of men andSo, an important way to stop fake 60 per cent of women aged 16-75 soughtnews online is to promote digital media health information online. literacy among adults and children, A recent Eurobarometer surveyincluding in schools. As a first line of showed that 37 per cent of EU respond- defence, schools play a crucial role. ents felt they were exposed to fake newsTeachers will need to reflect hard on every day or almost every day, while fourwhat exactly it is they teach, and make in five respondents indicated that theysure the information they share with were exposed to such news at least sev- children is based on peer reviewed sci-eral times a month. ence, and not on a teachers gut feeling By now we have seen numerousor coming from their information bubbles. Marcel Bruins examples of propaganda, political polar- I have had my fair share of run-ins with isation, and loss of public trust in demo- teachers who erroneously believe GMOs cratic institutions, due to fake news. Weare bad, organic is pesticide free, and all F AK ENEWS ! ,Thatishave seen dangerous precedents whereseed companies are evil. And continue misinformation! Often-usedfalse news led to national uprisings,to believe this even after having been terms. But what is it exactly,trying to topple democratically electedexplained the scientific facts behind it all.where does it come from, and how topeople. Similarly, in the field of publicWhat can you do? Well, be on the stop it? To get a better handle on thehealth, including COVID, misinforma- lookout. One way of arming yourself, topic we have dedicated an entire issue oftion and disinformation have caused theyour children and others, is by playing European Seed to fake news and myths.unnecessary deaths of thousands if nota few educational games. I have played We dive deeper into the matter and putmore. Untruthsparticularly propagandathem myself, and they are great fun, real the spotlight on various aspects.and disinformationplayed an importanteye-openers, and very informative at the I always thought that fake newsrole in the lead up to Russias invasion ofsame time. I guarantee, you wont be look-was something recent, and inextricablyUkraine, and they continue to circulateing at news in the same way after that. linked to the internet. While diggingstrongly in both countries. If we wishHere are some websites to try: https://into this topic, I realized that I couldntto reduce that, it is crucial that we putwww.getbadnews.com/en/ and https://have been more wrong. For as long asa halt to the creation and spreading ofwww.goviralgame.com/en.there were people to create and spreadsuch untruths. When reading news and browsing fake news, such false rumours and inac- Reducing fake news will only work ifthe internet, always be aware, and make curate reporting have been with us. Andwe all work togetheryou, me, compa- sure you are well equipped to distinguish since the invention of the printing press,nies and policy makers. We all have a rolefake from real. You may want to check if it has been a part of media history. Allto play. First to identify and remove fakeyour organization, and perhaps even the this happened long before the arrival ofnews from the internet. And secondly, toschool of your kids, has some sort of pro-social media. But it was the developmentmake sure we think twice before puttinggram in place to increase online awareness, and widespread use of the internet whichsomething on the internet in the first place. and help your colleagues and children to greatly increased the ability to write andTo be clear, were not good at iden- better assess and verify the accuracy of quickly spread such misleading content alltifying fake news. We rely on our prehis- online information. The gravity of fake over the world, with the push of a button. toric brain and over thousands of years,news is often myth-understood.The rise of the internet has greatlyhave learned to favour negative news over exacerbated the problem. To illustrate:positive news. There is often a high emo- Marcel Bruinsthe share of people in the EU who readtional content in fake news, which seekseditorial director, European Seedonline newspapers and news magazinesto provoke shock or anger. And as a result,mbruins@seedworldgroup.com4IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'