Author(s): Ivana P. Bodrožić,Aleksandar Bodrožić / Language(s): Serbian
Issue: 3/2018
False news are consciously pronounced false or claims contrary to the truth, in the shortest and most simple form of written, spoken or visual information, about an event, phenomenon, social behavior or personality. In the paper authors categorize them on various systematization criteria, on the basis of which they point to their powerful communicative potential for the countryʼs political and value system. Starting from the view that it is an instrument of political action, authors point on their potential effects on political knowledge, opinion, political trust and internal political efficiency and analyze the mechanisms of state reaction that can be used to suppress harmful consequences of false news. Criminal law mechanism should be used as an ultimate ratio, through the application of criminal offense the spread of panic and disorder, which should be taken into account in cases of placing information with the mentioned implications. Finally, authors point out that other legal levels, should not engage in freedom and rights by introducing lex specialis, but rather through social policy mechanisms such as raising awareness of the concept, harmfulness and risks of false news, through the formal training of skepticism and critical thinking, work on raising media literacy, supporting and developing associations dealing with the disclosure of false news and their creators and publishing scientific papers on this topic, which will all lead to a reduction of trust in those media and moral condemnation of the audience, and only at the end apply repressive measures, which interfere with the right to freedom of speech and public expression of opinion.
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