The European Commission has announced the creation of a task force to combat “misinformation” and “fake news” in the media and one of the members of the group will be the CEO of Sweden’s public broadcaster.
Hanna Stjärne, CEO of Sveriges Television (SVT), will be joining the Commission Group on Disinformation along with the head of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and former director general of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ Noel Curran. The task force has been created to advise the EU on the spread of “fake news” online, according to the European Union’s official website.
The EU claims “the High Level group will advise the Commission on scoping the phenomenon of fake news, defining the roles and responsibilities of relevant stakeholders, grasping the international dimension, taking stock of the positions at stake, and formulating recommendations”.
Commenting on her appointment to the task force, Ms Stjärne said: “Recently, the debate has been intense about the spread of disinformation online. The issue concerns Sweden and the rest of Europe from a democratic perspective and is important, not least given the current elections in Sweden.”
“The principles of freedom of expression and the right to information are crucial to me in the work to be done. I am pleased to have the opportunity to cooperate across national borders on this crucial future issue.”
The fight against “fake news” has been going on since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016 and has seen the formation of several “fact-checking” groups.
The German “fact-checker” Correctiv has been shown to have links to left-wing billionaire George Soros and his vast network of foundations and NGOs. Breitbart London reported last year that the organisation is also staffed and led by mainstream media journalists.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron has also declared war on “fake news” and has announced plans to block entire websites and news organisations during election periods.
Macron has been slammed by press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders head Christophe Deloire who compared the move to that of despotic nations.