Cyprus joins war against fake news

The members of the Association of Balkan News Agencies - Southeastern Europe (ABNA-SE), headquartered in Sofia, signed a declaration pledging to combat fake news in Thessaloniki on Monday, hosted by Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA).

The declaration was signed at the end of a conference, titled 'The role of News Information in the New Balkan Reality'.

It brought together the leaders of regional news agencies, including BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and Cyprus News Agency's acting director/editor in chief George Christodoulides.

ABNA-SE members will intensify their cooperation for providing more complete and objective information in order to combat fake news in texts, images or video and also contact desks within the facilities of each news agency will provide timely and accurate verification to limit the dissemination of fake news, according to the declaration.

Participants in the conference were addressed by Greek Ministers and Deputy Ministers, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas and editors in chief.

Panels were organized on issues such as the geopolitical developments in Southeast Europe and the significance of news reporting, the European prospects of the Western Balkans and interconnection networks - bridges of cooperation and development.