Communication Sciences professors held a seminar for associates of the Press Office of the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska

On Saturday, January 11, 2024, in the Great Hall of the Central Theological Seminary and Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Split, a seminar "Critical analysis of misinformation on religious topics" was held for parish associates and correspondents of the Press Office of the Archdiocese of Split-Makar, where lectures were given by our Communications Sciences Department professors assoc. prof. Lana Ciboci Perša, PhD, assist. prof. Suzana Peran, PhD, assist. prof. Davor Trbušić, PhD and teaching assistant Hana Kilijan.

IKA reports that the first presentation "From information to misinformation in the media" was held by prof. Ciboci Perša, in which she showed that there is more and more misinformation in the media space, especially on social networks and portals. She emphasized that it is important that all users become media literate and know how to critically evaluate media content.

The second lecture, "Disinformation about the Catholic Church in the media", was held by prof. Suzana Peran. In it, she clarified that since the document "Communio et progressio" from 1971, the Catholic Church has been talking about the importance of correct, truthful information and media training that should take place in parishes, Catholic schools and dioceses. Disinformation, or as it is popularly called fake news, has been talked about more since 2018 after the Pope's message "The truth will set you free" about peace journalism and fake news.

Assistant Kilijan spoke about writing news for parish events and showed how to ensure truth and credibility in them. She practically demonstrated how to write as simply as possible and talked about the terminology used in some aspects of professional journalism that are important to them, all with the aim of equipping parish associates with all the necessary journalistic tools.

Prof. Davor Trbušić held a lecture "From the parish to social networks - how to ensure truth and credibility" in which he gave practical guidelines and presented tools that parish associates can use to manage their parish's social networks in the most successful way and thus communicate more effectively. He also showed the steps in planning communication campaigns at the levels of his parish communities and brought a concrete framework of what a campaign should contain, what questions to ask at the beginning, during and at the end of its implementation, and then encouraged everyone in future efforts around their parish communities.