The 10th ASEF Editors’ Roundtable (ASEFERT10) wrapped up on Wednesday placed a bold cooperation on fighting against fake news between the two continents –Asia and Europe.
The agreement was made after a range of discussions between media practitioners of the two continents during the two-day event hosted by Cambodia in hybrid format.

Under the theme “Strengthening Cooperation between Journalists in Combating Fake News”, the ASEFERT10 is one of the major side events of the 13th Asia-Europe Summit (ASEM13) being organised by Cambodia on Nov. 25-26.
The ASEFERT10 consisted of two plenary sessions and a public forum.
According to a press release of the Ministry of Information AKP received this afternoon, during the first plenary session, editors from both continents shared information, experiences and current state of the spread of fake news in their respective countries.
They also discussed and shared lessons learned and best practices in their respective countries in combating fake news and highlighted the significant roles and responsibilities of journalists in disseminating facts and credible information to the public; encouraging the public to be educated on media literacy; and to train citizen journalists to understand ethics and professionalism.
The editors of the two continents agreed that fake news is a global issue which is happening in Asia, Europe and the whole world. Fake news relevancy is occurring in almost every field, such as politics, economy, trade, and private life. It caused serious damage to the society and the daily life of the people, especially during the wide spread of the COVID-19.
In the second plenary session, the editors of both continents emphasised the need to tighten the cooperation between journalists and information officers, as well as government leaders of each country in continuing to strengthen and expand the mechanism of communication, consultation, and information exchange in a transparent and accountable manner. They also viewed that journalists and the government are the complementary partners, as the government need journalists to cover their work, while journalists need information to broadcast. Meanwhile, the journalists are required to strengthen their professionalism and ethics in order for them to regain the trust from the public.
For the public forum, the editors of both continents and the national and international journalists working in Cambodia discussed and exchanged experiences on journalism professional practices, information dissemination by citizen journalists, especially on social media platform and measures, including legal measures, taken by each country to combat fake news and promote the freedom of expression.
The 10th ASEF Editors’ Roundtable was a success and a proud achievement, with the aim of strengthening and expanding cooperation between journalists of the two continents and stakeholders in the fight against fake news and raising awareness of the importance of bilateral and multilateral cooperation between journalists in both continents.
The event was held under presidency of H.E Khieu Kanharith, Minister of Information, and H.E Ambassador Morikiwa Toru, Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation, and attended by editors and senior journalists of print and broadcasting news outlets of the two continents.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press