THE ANTI VACCINATION MOVEMENT AND FAKE NEWS

Discussing during our workshop, we discovered that Italy and Spain both have some kind of problem about the anti vaccination movement, connected to the phenomenon of fake news.

The anti vaccination movement started when a British scientist, Andrew Wakefield, published in 1998 an essay in which he maintained a connection between vaccines and autism. His work caused a drastic drop of the vaccinations in the United Kingdom, and caused an enormous debate into the scientific community, as no other scientist could find the same results as Wakefield. Only the British reporter Brian Deer, writing for Sunday Times, could discover in 2004 a conflict of interests that Wakefield had not declared. Thanks to Deer, Wakefield’s study was discovered as fake, and the British researcher was banished from the scientific community.

But as scepticism about vaccines seemed to be over, in the last years it came back, connected to fake news and political propaganda. Now we are going to examine in particular the cases of Italy and Spain.

In 2017, because of a drastic growth of scepticism in the public opinion about the security of vaccinations, caused by a big wave of fake news which reminded similar cases about vaccines and autism as Wakefield had described, the Italian government of Gentiloni was forced to make ten different vaccinations compulsory, instead of four. In fact, in Italy there had been a huge number of cases of children died by measles, meaning that fake news reached even the power of control on life and death.

This measure causes a political debate in Italy, between those who supported government decision, those who were simply against the compulsoriness of vaccines, called Free Vax, and those who think vaccines are actually dangerous, the No Vax. Many politicians of the political party Movimento 5 Stelle, gave their support to the last two categories, as a way of propaganda, although by the time of 2018 political elections they got a more moderate position. Roberto Burioni, an italian doctor, with the support of the Democratic Party, started a campaign of awareness about the importance of vaccines and faith in the scientific method.

Although Spain does not have the same problems as Italy or France, in 2015 started a big debate on the compulsoriness of vaccines, after a case of a six years old kid who died by diphtheria, an illness which hadn’t had any cases in over 28 years. In fact, Spain has no compulsory vaccine, except the one for rabies, but it concern the dogs. The family of the kid declared to be victim of disinformation by the anti vaccination movement, causing a feeling of indignation and blame by the scientific community all around the world. In Spain started a spread of opinions about making more vaccines compulsory.

Interview to Nurgül

Nurgül is a Dutch student who came to the Seminar and who can tell us about both freedom of speech in the Netherlands and Turkey. She would like to study Politics and we have had the pleasure to interview her.

• What is your story? How did you arrive to Europe?

My grandparents went to Europe to work a couple of years, and they brought my mother who met my father in Turkey. After that, they settled down in The Hague and we live here since then.

• What is your opinion about the situation of your country?

In the Netherlands I love the politics. They are open to the people: I can walk to the Parliament, sit and see everything the politicians say. I love that transparency. However, the big question in Dutch society is if freedom of speech should tolerate the hatred of Geert Wilders, for example, whose racist statements have taken him to court.
In Turkey, people are afraid of the Government. Politics are just crazy. There's no freedom of speech anymore. Opposition journalists are afraid of Erdogan's repression. The big question in Turkey for the people is if the opposition should say anything. So, see the big difference!

• How was to live all the tension of the coup d'état?

I was going in Turkey during summer break and the coup was taking place the day I arrived in Turkey. It was very scaring because no one knew what was happening. We didn't know if they were doing wrong or right as we were in the plane and we could not turn on a TV. The pilot said "keep calm and obey my orders" because he didn't know neither what was going on. We took a train and a bus after taking land and the bus was trapped by the army. They said that they weren't going to harm anyone if we didn't try to harm them, but it was scaring. Istanbul and Ankara were in chaos because people were told to go home and wait but they got out to the streets. We then returned home and since then I have heard lots of conspiracy theories about the coup as that it was Erdogan who promoted it, but I don't think so.

• Do Turkish people trust the newspapers, or do they have another source of information?

Journalists are afraid of Erdogan's repression and they don't write against him, so it is very difficult to get news that do not support him. So, pro-Erdogan people believe the news but not anti-Erdogan Turks.

• What can you tell us about racism in the Netherlands? And what about in Turkey?

In the Netherlands we have two kinds of racism: from the Turks to the Dutch and vice versa. There are Dutch people who say "every Turkish person...", but also the other way round and that is racism too. My boyfriend is Dutch, and Turks say me "how do you dare?" As if I was committing a crime or something. However, I get the same kind of questions from Dutch people.

Interview to Solveig Hass

Solveig Haas is a trainee in Ostfriesische Nachrichten, a newspaper in Aurich. She studied English and German Literature and then worked as a freelance translator. Now she is writing for the main newspaper in the region. We have had the pleasure to meet her and to interview her and moreover, she had guided us in a tour on their workplace.

• Do you think that percentage of women in media in your newspaper and in Germany in general is enough now or still needs to raise?

It needs to raise, yes, but women have also to raise in opinion. When women talk about politics or sports, the main concern for some people is not what they are saying but the fact that they are women.

• When interviewing a woman, do you think that they are made the same kind of questions to a man?

No, for example just look in the Oscars. While men are asked about what they felt in this part, what was for them playing this or that one..., women are asked about the clothes they are wearing.

• Do you feel that you are a woman while working on journalism?

I work in a rural area where there are people with a sexist mind, so I feel it somehow when I go to interview some farmers. I am always told about things like "you, that a are a woman...".

Karl's Popper Paradox of Tolerance

   Described in 1945, it is influenced by Popper's personal experience under the Nazi Regime because he was Jewish. Karl Popper was an Austrian-British philosopher very interested in philosophy of science, but he also developed other theories about politics in society.
The paradox, written in The Open Society and its Enemies, was formulated as it follows:
"Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly, be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant."
This is a good example of limits on freedom of speech and it can perfectly answer the recurrent question in our topic "Is everyone allowed to say anything they want?". The answer to the question is, in our opinion, no, because to preserve democracy and open society we are forced to fight ideas which can put in danger democracy. We are letting populist parties over Europe spread messages of hatred, risking to enlarge racist, sexist, xenophobic opinions. The problem is that sometimes it is hard to define which opinions are actually intolerant and which ones are not.

Freedom of speech in Germany

Unfortunately in media workshop, we don't have any German student so, we think that making an interview to some of them was a great idea to know about the situation of Germany.

The Netherlands: Freedom of Speech

A lot of people consider the Netherlands as a very tolerant country, but is that always the case? In the Netherlands there are a lot of political figures who are not afraid to share their opinions. In this article we'll discuss the infamous politicus, Geert Wilders.
Geert Wilders is the chairman of the group PVV (Partij voor de vrijheid = group for the freedom). In 2014 during the local elections he made a remark which shocked a lot of people. He held a speech in which he literally said: "Fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?". And the croud shouted fewer. Lots of people were upset and mad about the fact that an important politicus could say something like that. A lot of Moroccans live in the Netherlands and they openly showed their resentment after this statement. A lawsuit followed soon after and is still ongoing. He didn´t get a punishment but he was found guilty. This wasn't the first time that Wilders was sued for something he had said. 

But is it right that he is being sued for stating his opinion? In the Netherlands we have freedom of speech but we also have other laws which prohibit to discriminate. Was this saying a form of discrimination? We believe so, because Geert Wilders wasn' t focussing on the behaviour of certain people but solely on a race. He literally said he wanted to exclude a certain group of people. You have freedom of speech, but you can' t discriminate. But where do we draw the line between these two things?

We personally think that it should be prohibited to mention a whole race as one, because every person is different. These kind of remarks lead to biases which can make ones life very difficult.

Eventhough freedom of speech is very important to us. We believe that everyone should try to state his or her opinion in a way that others won´t get offended.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean  you don't have to think anymore about what you say. You should always think your opinions through to overcome biases.

FREEDOM OF PRESS IN ITALY

   All have the right to express freely their own thought by word, in writing and by all other means of communication.
The press cannot be subjected to authorisation or censorship.
Seizure is permitted only by a detailed warrant from the judicial authority in the case of offences for which the law governing the press expressly authorises, or in the case of violation of the provisions prescribed by law for the disclosure of the responsible parties.
In such cases, when there is absolute urgency and when the timely intervention of the judicial authority is not possible, periodical publications may be seized by officers of the criminal police, who must immediately, and never after more than twenty-four hours, report the matter to the judicial authority. If the latter does not ratify the act in the twenty-four hours following, the seizure is understood to be withdrawn and null and void.
The law may establish, by means of general provisions, that the financial sources of the periodical press be disclosed.
Printed publications, shows and other displays contrary to morality are forbidden. The law establishes appropriate means for preventing and suppressing all violations. »
(Article 21 of the Italian Republic Constitution)
Italy is now on the 52nd position of the Press Freedom Index (source: https://rsf.org/en/ranking), one of the lowest for developed countries. In this piece we are going to explore and understand the reasons, giving some historical information.
The freedom of press in the Italian Republic was restored after the end of the Fascist Regime, in 1943. The freedom of press is now defended by law, but Italy kept many problems during its history. During the “anni di piombo” (1968 - 1980 ca.), many journalists disappeared or were killed for have tried to uncover some information about terrorist groups like Brigate Rosse, a communist group which acted with kidnapping and murders of politicians or public personalities, or Ordine Nuovo, a neo-fascist association which used to organise terrorist attacks, putting bombs in public places as happened in Piazza Fontana, Milan, 1968 or in the railway station of Bologna, 1980.
In 1977, Indro Montanelli, one of the most important journalists in Italy, was kneecapped by two members of the Brigate Rosse, because he was “friend to multinational corporations”. Another journalist, Walter Tobagi, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the Brigate Rosse.
This time of Italian history was extremely dangerous for every journalist, politician, and even for students who were interested in politics Now Italy is far from situations of that kind, but while terrorist organisations do not exist anymore, mafia still has a huge power on politics and, most importantly, on the freedom of press. According to Reporters Without Borders, “six Italian journalists are still under round-the-clock police protection because of death threats, mostly from the mafia or fundamentalist groups.”. This is interesting because freedom of press is not mostly undermined by political power, an authority, but by illegal organisations, which operate over the law. The case of Roberto Saviano is quite meaningful: in 2006 he published Gomorrah, a novel inspired by real facts about Camorra, and he received death threats by the Casanova, a powerful Camorra clan. For that, he now lives in incognito, under the protection of Police. Now he still works against Camorra and he is now one of the most important criminologists worldwide, with his books, articles and TV appearances.
In Italy, many journalists, especially in Rome and in the south, said that they are still subjected to mafia groups and criminal organisations. Another problem for Italy freedom of press is the influence that every government has on the national public TV broadcasting station, the Rai. For example, in 2004 Italy was included into the partially-free countries by RSF, when Silvio Berlusconi was the Italian Prime Minister. At the time, he could simultaneously control the Rai information channels and the Mediaset ones, of which he was private owner. Even the European Court intervened the same year because of a law called “legge Gasparri” which, officially aimed to preparing the changeover to digital terrestrial television, allowed Mediaset channels to keep using the analogical television over the limits that other channels had, supporting the interests of Mediaset group. Even RSF declared that this law “presented a danger for the independence of public television and a threat to pluralism of news and information.”. Berlusconi was also owner of the biggest Italian editorial group, Mondadori, so he had an enormous control on communication, giving Italy a lower position than some undeveloped countries in the RSF freedom of press ranking.

(Pic from www.freedomofthepressfh.org)