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We live in an age where a simple scroll through our social media feeds presents a dizzying blend of hard-won facts, cleverly disguised opinions, and outright digital fabrications. With the rise of sophisticated algorithms that prioritize engagement over accuracy, and artificial intelligence capable of generating hyper-realistic “deepfakes,” the line between what is true and what is merely viral has become dangerously blurred. Questions that once had straightforward answers are now fraught with uncertainty: How do we tell verified information apart from sophisticated propaganda? What is the real job of a journalist in a world where anyone can publish to millions? And, crucially, how can the youngest members of our society build the mental armor needed to navigate this chaotic landscape without losing faith in democracy itself? Recognizing the urgency of these questions, the Council of Europe convened a major two-day conference in Strasbourg on November 9th and 10th, bringing together a vibrant mix of young people, veteran journalists, social media platforms, media analysts, and high-level institutional representatives. This gathering, titled “Youth facing disinformation – Why journalists matter,” served as the centerpiece of a broader initiative conducted under Monaco’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, operating within the framework of the Council’s dedicated campaign for the safety of journalists, aptly named “Journalists matter.” The event was positioned as a direct contribution to the Council of Europe’s “New Democratic Pact for Europe,” a blueprint designed to strengthen the foundations of democratic institutions and civic participation across the continent. The core mission was twofold: to foster a meaningful, honest dialogue between the generation that consumes digital news and the professionals who produce it, and to actively promote media literacy as a fundamental life skill, encouraging young people to champion reliable sources and the principle of press freedom with conviction.
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The scale of the challenge was laid bare in the opening addresses, where leaders did not mince words about the existential threat disinformation poses to the very fabric of society. Tanja Gonggrijp, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, framed the issue as the central struggle of our time. She reminded the audience that democracy is not a self-sustaining machine; it relies entirely on the ability of its citizens to make informed choices. “Democracy depends on informed choices,” she stated, “and that requires reliable, independent and pluralistic information. That is why journalists matter.” But she was equally clear about the destructive force of the alternative. Disinformation, she warned, is not merely misleading; it is a corrosive acid that polarizes communities, erodes the public’s trust in institutions, and can quite literally distort the outcome of elections. Gonggrijp pointed out that we are navigating a period of “democratic backsliding,” where the gains of the past are under threat. In such turbulent times, superficial reporting is no longer sufficient; the world needs more in-depth journalism, more rigorous verification, and more contextual analysis to help citizens understand complex realities rather than simple slogans. Crucially, she emphasized that fighting misinformation is not a job that can be outsourced solely to newsrooms or tech companies. It is a shared, democratic burden that rests on the shoulders of governments, who must create legal frameworks that protect journalists rather than persecute them; on digital platforms, who must take responsibility for the content they algorithmically amplify; and on each individual citizen, who must pause before hitting “share” and ask a simple question: “Is this actually true?” This call to personal responsibility transforms the fight against disinformation from an abstract institutional problem into a daily, conscious act of civic duty for every person in the room and beyond.
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Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Monaco, who presides over the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, delved deeper into the political stakes of the debate. She observed that information, once seen as a public good, is “all too often exploited, politicised or misrepresented.” The result is that public discourse—the lifeblood of a working democracy—becomes a boxing ring rather than a community meeting. When arguments are built on distorted facts or biased reasoning, it becomes impossible to reach consensus, solve problems, or govern effectively. Berro-Amadeï highlighted the particularly insidious nature of polarisation and xenophobia, which are “very easy to stoke but particularly difficult to dispel once they have taken hold.” A single viral lie can ignite hatred that takes years of patient work to extinguish, if it can be extinguished at all. Her message was a call for a continent-wide, collective response. We cannot rely on the fact-checkers alone to pick up the pieces after the damage is done; we must prevent the manipulation in the first place. This requires empowering the next generation not just with technical skills, but with confidence and ethical clarity. “We must give young people the means and the confidence they need to get involved, to defend their convictions responsibly and to make their own choices,” she urged. Supporting this sentiment from a judicial perspective, Mattias Guyomar, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, provided a crucial legal backdrop. He spoke about the “increasing disinformation, the rise of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative realities'” that characterize our times, underlining the “particular responsibility” that journalists carry. Guyomar connected the fight for accurate information directly to the “proper functioning of democracy.” He reminded the audience that the European Court of Human Rights, through its case law, stands as a bulwark against these threats. By protecting judges, NGOs, lawyers, whistleblowers, and journalists, the Court is not merely defending individual rights; it is defending the entire architecture of the rule of law, pluralism, and democratic society. His words served as a powerful reminder that the legal system is a vital safety net for the practice of free and responsible journalism.
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Beyond the high-level speeches, the initiative’s true focus was on action and engagement. On November 10th, the energy shifted to the Council of Europe’s European Youth Centre, where interactive workshops allowed participants to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in the trenches of media reality. These were not passive lectures; they were hands-on simulations designed to build muscle memory for critical thinking. Participants engaged in live fact-checking exercises, putting their investigative skills to the test against real-world examples of viral claims. They were thrown into simulations modeled on crisis situations, where they had to make rapid decisions about what to publish and what to discard, learning firsthand the pressure journalists face daily. Other sessions delved into the grim practicalities of the profession, discussing the often-hazardous working conditions faced by reporters, the financial instability of the industry, and the emotional toll of investigating dangerous stories. The goal of these workshops was multi-layered: to develop sharper critical thinking skills, to build empathy for the professionals behind the headlines, and, perhaps most importantly, to translate the experience of those two days into a concrete set of recommendations for future action. This reframing of young people as active participants rather than passive recipients was a deliberate choice. The initiative explicitly sought to place young voices “centre stage.” The culmination of this effort was the drafting of a “collective pledge” by the young participants—a written testament outlining their views, commitments, and specific proposals for how institutions, media outlets, and their own peers can work together to support quality journalism and strengthen democratic debate. This pledge represents a tangible output of the conference, a contract between the organizers and the next generation, ensuring that their voices will continue to be heard long after the event concluded.
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A high point of the conference was the spotlight shone on grassroots innovation. The organizers announced the winners of a call for proposals, awarding grants to four youth-led projects dedicated to promoting media literacy and combating disinformation. Journalist, director, and producer Béatrice Borromeo Casiraghi took the stage to present the grants to representatives of the European Youth Press, the Fundación Maldita.es, the FactChecking Factory, and a multimedia initiative specifically focused on climate disinformation and the promotion of quality journalism. These projects represent the vibrant, decentralized energy that is essential for solving the information crisis. In presenting the awards, Borromeo Casiraghi delivered some of the conference’s most memorable and humanizing rhetoric. She painted a stark picture of the digital landscape, observing that “online noise is where disinformation thrives. When facts, opinions and deliberate manipulation become harder to distinguish, the very fabric of our democratic societies begins to unravel.” She sharply critiqued the perverse incentives of the tech industry, arguing that the individuals leading the technological revolution are often shaping a world where “accuracy comes second to engagement, and truth matters only when it attracts attention.” However, her message was not one of doom; it was a rallying cry for a different vision. She offered an alternative worldview, one fundamentally based on the premise that “truth matters, that giving a voice to those who don’t have one, and holding the powerful to account, matters.” Her words connected the work of the young grantees to a higher moral purpose, reminding them that they are not just creating media projects, but are the vanguard of a movement to reclaim the public square from those who would drown it in noise.
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When we step back and look at the overarching message of these two days in Strasbourg, a clear synthesis emerges: democracy, truth, and journalism are inextricably linked. You cannot protect one without protecting the others. The conference acknowledged that while the algorithms and AI-driven manipulation tactics are increasingly sophisticated, they cannot override a population that has been educated to think critically. By bringing together the institutional power of the Council of Europe, the legal framework of the European Court of Human Rights, the front-line experience of journalists, and the fresh perspective of the youth, the event modeled the very collaboration it seeks to foster across society. It sent a definitive message to governments about their duty to create safe environments for reporters, to tech companies about their responsibility to moderate content fairly, and to citizens about their personal power to resist manipulation. The “New Democratic Pact for Europe” is not an abstract policy document; it is grounded in concrete actions like these workshops, grants, and pledges. The initiative under Monaco’s Presidency demonstrated that we are not powerless victims of the information age. We have the tools, the legal precedents, and the passionate human capital to fight back. The ultimate legacy of this gathering lies in its empowerment of the individual. It challenged everyone present—and by extension, the wider public—to refuse the comfort of apathy and cynicism. The call to action is simple but profound: to treat the pursuit of verified truth as a civic responsibility, to support the journalists who put themselves at risk to bring us that truth, and to believe that a society built on facts—however messy and complex—is always preferable to one built on comfortable illusions. Through this collective insistence on integrity, we can strengthen our societies from the inside out, ensuring that democracy doesn’t just survive the digital age, but flourishes within it.