Fake news around the Czech Republic

Nine out of ten seniors receive chain emails

Prague, 24 September 2018 - The assumption that seniors do not work much with digital media is refuted by a recent survey by Elpida and the O2 Foundation. It shows that more than 60% of seniors who have access to the internet visit online news sites. More than 90% of seniors using the internet have also encountered so-called chain emails, although only one in five report being involved in their distribution themselves. The survey also shows that a full 40% of seniors do not check the veracity of information from their favourite sources. Following the results of the survey, Elpida, in cooperation with Transitions and with the support of the O2 Foundation, has prepared a series of talks called Believe Don't Believe, where together with key personalities of the media scene, it raises pressing topics related to the media. The first meeting will take place tomorrow at CAMP in Prague.

"More than 60% of seniors regularly monitor Internet servers, and a quarter of them regularly encounter news via e-mails and social networks. The multiplicity of sources of information places greater demands on a critical approach to them - knowing how to work with sources, who owns which media or how a news item is produced can help seniors to better navigate the media and be more resistant to various fabrications and conspiracy theories," says Jiří Hrabě, director of Elpida. The survey therefore also focused on where seniors most often get their information and news from, what they believe or, on the contrary, which sources they do not trust. "Forty percent of seniors in the survey admitted that they hardly check the information they get from their favourite source. Given the natural tendency of respondents to embellish their answers, this may actually be more than half. The explosion of digital media has therefore caught today's 60+ generation unprepared and more vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation. That's why our partnership with Elpida, which has lasted over a decade, now focuses on developing the digital literacy of seniors - we support a computer academy and our O2 Gurus at Elpida Centres provide regular free counselling. Within the framework of the Believe Don't Believe campaign, which is starting now, we want to draw even more attention to this topic," adds Anna Kačabová, Director of the O2 Foundation.

Almost ninety percent of seniors regularly watch TV news, but only a third identify TV as the source of information they trust most. At the same time, almost one in three seniors identifies television as the main source of fake news and misinformation. More than half of the respondents trust the news of ČT and TV Prima, while only about 40% of them consider the news of TV Nova and TV Barrandov reliable. Public television is considered to be more likely to spread fake news than private television. Men are almost twice as likely as women to identify public service media as the originators of fake news. A relatively significant difference between the respondents is shown in the verification of information. While only 25% of university-educated seniors do not verify news with other sources, the figure is almost half for people who have completed primary school or an apprenticeship.

A series of talks to promote media literacy
Examples of so-called fake news include criticism of Czech politicians or news about the health of the President. They also mention topics such as the death of Karel Gott or the ban on mushroom picking in the Czech Republic. Half of the seniors have come into contact with forwarded news about migration. More than 35% have received e-mails insulting Czech politicians and one in four messages criticising the European Union.

Only less than ten percent of respondents believe they have not encountered any fake news. This is one of the reasons why Elpida, in cooperation with Transitions and with the support of the O2 Foundation, has prepared a series of talks called Believe don't believe, in which together with key personalities of the media scene they raise pressing topics related to the media. "Seniors often do not verify the information they receive online and may find it more difficult to make sense of it. We do not want to advise them what is true and what is not, but to provide them with a guide that will make it easier for them to recognize a suspicious message or source of information," explains Jiří Hrabě why the organization decided to build on its long-term projects and experience in the field of digital education for seniors, thanks to which more than 50,000 seniors have learned to use computers. "We will now focus our many years of experience in supporting quality independent journalism in various parts of the world on supporting Czech seniors. Together we will be looking for ways to navigate the current information noise at a series of educational events in towns and villages," says Jaroslav Valůch, Programme Coordinator at Transitions.

Thanks to the support of the O2 Foundation and the American Embassy in Prague, three sessions will take place in the Czech Republic and two more in Slovakia, with the aim of helping seniors to recognize trustworthy news and to counter the onslaught of advertising and manipulation. The Believe Don't Believe series of talks starts on Tuesday, 25 September at the CAMP Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning in Prague. The guests of the first discussion will be Robert Čásenský (Reporter magazine), Janek Rubeš (Seznam.cz), Apolena Rychlíková (A2larm) and Jaroslav Valůch (Transitions).

Similar topics will be the focus of a new year-long series of seminars, Life in the Information Age, which will start in October at the Elpida Centre and then in regions across the Czech Republic.

Dates of the next debates

▱ 4 October at 7 p.m. in Olomouc - Divadlo na cucky - Believe don't believe the journalists
▱ 6 October at 6 p.m. in Bratislava - Berlinka - Believe the Words (Jedna babka povedala)
▱ 13th October at 6 pm in Košice - Kino Úsmev - Believe in Words (Jedna babka povedala)
▱ 15 November at 6 pm in Brno - Academia Literary Café - Believe the Internet

Contact for media

Iveta Čížová ~ PR ~ iveta.cizova@elpida.cz ~ +420 773 480 505

Jan Bartoš ~ Head of the Elpida Cultural and Educational Centre ~ jan.bartos@elpida.cz ~ +420 777 037 112

Elpida means hope in Greek. But it is also the name of an organization that helps seniors remain a confident and respected part of society. In the spirit of the Old's Cool motto, Elpida is changing the way people look at old age - it runs the Elpida Educational and Cultural Centre for seniors from all over Prague and the Senior Crisis Line, founded the brand Socks from Grandma, publishes the magazine VITAL, and organizes the intergenerational Old's Cool festival. In short, she is trying to make Czech seniors lead a full & happy life.