At the conference, students attended lectures and discussions on the topic of fact checking, Russian aggression, encouraging the consumption of news content and other related media and technology topics.
A group of VERN's undergraduate students in Journalism and Public Relations and the graduate student in Business Communications Management participated in the four-day Istria Media Days conference, which was held in mid-October in Vrsar.
Along with our professor Davor Stanković , the students joined other academic and media experts and students from other faculties at the conference to discuss current topics such as: the impact of disinformation on society and politics, promoting true journalism, media fact-checking, media reporting on the Russian aggression in Ukraine, and even encouraging the consumption of news content among young people. The main challenge, they concluded, is how to encourage young people to read the news and consume it in a healthy way.
In addition, the use of social networks for information, technological development, and the increasingly popular topic of artificial intelligence emerged as an essential topic in the discussions. Participants pointed out that more and more consumers "trust algorithms and less and less journalism", which is why it is necessary for the media to continue to adapt and understand how algorithms work, and consequently expand media content and its placement.
"This kind of conference concept, which brings together experts, professors, and groups of students, is truly great, and it brought together representatives from as many as 11 different universities," commented Prof. Dr. Viktorija Car , adding that there is room for introducing innovations.
"Workshops for students next year should be even more interactive, and students must be allowed to not only participate in discussions but also to create some media content, in terms of media production, journalistic reporting. To produce content that will come out of the Istrian Media Days," she concluded.
The conference was also attended by students from various European universities, so the Istrian Media Days also attracted Ukrainian Anastasia , who is studying communication sciences in Venice.
"I expected more Ukrainian speakers and journalists who can participate in the discussions and answer questions, since the only perspectives of the Ukrainian lecturers were through videos. Therefore, the issues of the current situation could not be fully elaborated" , she concluded and praised the media workshops.
"The idea of the conference is good and there was a lot to learn. Although some lectures left incomplete answers to student questions and comments, it was great to see future journalists and PR professionals from various countries in one place. I believe this experience will benefit us all," said Jakov from VERN's journalism studio.
(collaborators: Kristina Banović, Lucija Budimir, Lucija Špralja, Jakov Drobnjak and Luka Safundžić)
