NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus, an ethnically divided island in the Mediterranean, is like any other country: It’s been hit by a wave of misinformation and locals need to stay awake.
The former British colony, smaller than Puerto Rico, is divided through a United Nations buffer zone that separates the predominantly Greek south from the predominantly Turkish north. The southern part, known as the Republic of Cyprus, is a member of the European Union, while the northern part, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, is identified solely through Turkey. Unification efforts through the foreign network failed in 2004 and 2017, flexible passage through the buffer zone has been allowed since 2003, and tensions are sometimes low.
“With clickbait journalism and fake news, there is a growing need for fact-checking on the island,” said Anil Isik, a freelance journalist and member of the European Association of Journalists in Cyprus. The coronavirus pandemic, Isik said, “has highlighted the need for credible data and the importance of fact-checking” in both communities.
Hasan Kahvecioglu, a veteran journalist from northern Turkey, agrees. “Because of the divisions, we want fact-checking sleuths even more than other countries,” he said. “Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot hounds use not unusual terminology. “
The pandemic has spurred the ultimate comprehensive effort to date to combat disinformation on the island: Fact Check Cyprus, a Greek-language website. It is an informal coalition of journalists and academics, focusing on coronavirus-related misinformation.
In early 2023, Thanos Sitistas, a seasoned Greek-born journalist at the Greek fact-checking firm Ellinika Hoaxes, formalized the project, in collaboration with Loukia Taxitari, professor of psychology at the University of Neapolis in Paphos; Michael Sirivianos, Professor of Engineering and Technology at the Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol; and several self-employed Cypriot expatriates in London. He now addresses claims related to immigration, LGBTQ politics and other issues.
“People here read the same thing as in Greece,” Sitistas said. “They’re subject to the same channels of disinformation. “These come with Russian disinformation, such as accusations about the war in Ukraine. Cyprus is attracting more and more Russian transplants and riches. . Sometimes, accusations generated or amplified through Iran also come to the site’s attention, Sitistas said.
Sitistas describes Fact Check Cyprus as a “network, a newsroom. “Sitistas added that he and his colleagues plan to apply for accreditation to the International Fact Verification Network, a department of the Poynter Institute, in early 2024.
Within the EU, Sitistas said: “Cyprus has the same vote as Germany, but it has gained enough attention when it comes to fact-checking. »
While Sitistas and his colleagues say they don’t see much disinformation, particularly aimed at tensions between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the island’s unusual dynamics have posed difficult situations for countering disinformation, according to interviews with several journalists, academics and press officials. conference. A week’s stopover on the island.
Linguist Stavroulla Hadjiconstantinou of the Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol, Republic of Cyprus. (Louis Jacobson/PolitiFact)
Stavroulla Hadjiconstantinou, a linguist at the Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol, Republic of Cyprus, said the island’s department makes other people on both sides of the buffer zone vulnerable to prejudice. They are “less open to objective or critical evaluation of the data. “disseminated through the media,” he said, adding that he works to teach his students how to stumble and counter false and misleading data online.
Nicholas Nicoli, associate professor of communication at the University of Nicosia in the Republic of Cyprus and co-author of “Digital Democracy, Social Media and Disinformation,” agrees. “There are many cracks beneath the surface of our society, and they are deceiving. localize and accentuate in the virtual landscape,” Nicoli said.
In Cyprus, “people are not aware of the lifestyle of teams and sites” to check what they see on social media, added Eleni Kyza, professor of communication and studies at the Cyprus University of Technology.
Meanwhile, local media are suffering from keeping up with false claims, several observers said.
Salaries for journalists are so low that there’s a well-trodden path from journalism into government jobs, observers say. “There’s a joke that’s not a joke — that there are more former journalists in the presidential palace than in any newsroom in Cyprus,” said Nicholas Karides, director of the Institute for Mass Media, which promotes investigative reporting and media literacy.
Sertac Sonan, Professor of International Relations at the International University of Cyprus, at the House of Jade café, north of Nicosia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. (Louis Jacobson/PolitiFact)
Meanwhile, the media, specifically in northern Turkey, is being controlled by corporations and elites whose economic interests are at stake. “We still have a lot of independent media, but it’s a global problem,” said Sertac Sonan, a political scientist at the International University of Cyprus in northern Nicosia. “There is not enough investment for independent media. “
Kyriakos Pierides, a longtime journalist in the Republic of Cyprus, added that “the mainstream media tends to follow the official narratives. They’re not working toward objective journalism. It’s a very serious situation — it’s producing news without a critical voice.”
The small size of the island is a complicating factor, said Shemaine Bushnell, editor-in-chief of the Cypriot edition of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini. The combined population of the two communities in Cyprus is roughly the same as that of the state of Maine.
Cypriots “are reluctant to bring court cases because of the tight-knit nature of the community,” Bushnell said. “Locals are afraid of needing a favor or engaging in businesses where the concept of nepotism is prevalent, so they are reluctant to speak out. ” Whether it’s misinformation, misinformation, or lack of information, the central challenge lies not in those points but in the tendency of citizens to remain silent. “
Perhaps the impediment in Cyprus is the linguistic divide.
“In Cyprus, the fact that there are two languages poses a problem for fact-checking,” said Sami Ozuslu, who worked for three decades as a journalist before winning election to the parliament in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Media studies professor Huri Yontucu at the Büyük Han in northern Nicosia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. (Louis Jacobson/PolitiFact)
Trilingual media policy – in English, Turkish and Greek – is in place in Cyprus, said Huri Yontucu, assistant professor of new media and communication at the University of Creative Arts and Design in Arkin, northern Cyprus.
“People don’t know what’s happening on the other side,” Yontucu said. “In divided and conflicting societies, one of the things is to collaborate with others and get to know them. The media is one of the teams that plays a role, not an unusual role, in amplifying and reducing tensions between societies in conflict by informing them about the “other”.
A rare “bicommunal” media effort covering the Greek and Cypriot communities is “Mazi/Birlikte” (“Together”), a one-hour television program broadcast once a week on Cyprus’ public broadcaster. “We need to show other people that they enjoy the same percentage of things, regardless of their ethnicity,” said Vasvi Çiftçioğlu, one of the journalists at the exhibition.
Despite this, the series has been scaled back. From 2004 to 2018, its predecessor aired daily.
Vasvi Çiftçioğlu, television journalist, coffee and second-hand Rüstem Kitabevi in Northern Nicosia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. (Louis Jacobson/PolitiFact)
On the positive side, it turns out that there is a growing call to expand residents’ media literacy, and several efforts are underway.
A presentation on fact-checking and misinformation through the writer at the Pedagogical Institute, a branch of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Cyprus in the Nicosia suburb of Latsia, drew about two dozen teachers from middle and high schools during the school day. , and many say they’re interested in receiving information on what they can do to improve their students’ social media habits.
Yontucu, who teaches media literacy to her students, is very happy with such interest. Media literacy, he said, “should start as early as school number one. “This idea was echoed by other academics and journalists.
A similar presentation through the Public Information Officers of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus attracted a similar number of participants and expressions of interest.
Ioannis Ioannou, journalist and analyst for the newspaper Kathimerini Cyprus, at the Daily Roast in Nicosia, Republic of Cyprus. (Louis Jacobson/PolitiFact)
“To address all this, we want to work on media literacy,” said Ioannis Ioannou, a journalist and foreign policy analyst for the Cypriot edition of the newspaper Kathimerini. “We want a strategy to win this. “
At Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta, the biggest city in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus other than northern Nicosia, media literacy is a required course for journalism students, said the chair of the new media and journalism department, Hanife Aliefendioğlu. The course description says it “encourages a critical, creative, and questioning attitude and orientation toward the media in all its various forms.”
Journalists, academics and other officials said money, technical expertise and education would be key to media literacy in Cyprus.
“It’s an arms race,” said Sirivianos, a professor and contributor to Fact Check Cyprus.