Friday, 7th February 2025
Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm (PST)
The Media Freedom Coalition and the Forum on Information and Democracy hosted a breakout session on information integrity entitled “Flooding the Zone with Facts: How to Promote Information Integrity While Upholding Media Freedom and Human Rights“ at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting in Manila from February 5-7, 2025.
This session brought together practitioners and experts from government, media, and civil society to discuss strategies and explore how media freedom and quality journalism can highlight facts, how government openness can support the crucial role of journalism and inform the public, and how efforts to tackle misinformation and disinformation can and must protect human rights and freedom of expression, while helping citizens scrutinize the information they encounter.
Group 1: How can we tackle misinformation and disinformation while respecting human rights, and what reforms should we consider?
- Lilya Afrikyan: Open Government Agenda Coordinator, Government of Armenia (Prime Minister’s office)
- Laxman Datt Pant: Executive Director of Media Action Nepal, member of the MFC’s Consultative Network
- Pia Friedrich: First Secretary for Political Affairs and Head of Press, German Embassy to the Philippines
- Laura Neuman: Senior Advisor, Office of the Vice President of Peace Programs, Carter Center (Moderator)
Group 2: How can we ensure factual information is prominent and reaches citizens?
- Evi Mariani: Co-founder and Executive Director, Project Multatuli, Indonesia
- Liana Doydoyan: Project Manager, Freedom of Information Centre, Armenia
- Gemma Mendoza: Head, Digital Strategy, Rappler
- Jaymie Reyes: Senior Political Officer, Embassy of the Netherlands in the Philippines (Moderator)
Group 3: What reforms and interventions can promote media literacy among citizens?
- Mark Loong: Director, Strengthening Democracy Taskforce, Australian Department of Home Affairs
- Syed Nazakat: CEO, DataLeads India
- Zukiswa Kota: Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM), OGP (Moderator)
