MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. The media space has become an arena of struggle over the right to distinguish truth from lies, and under these conditions fact-checking is one of the most politicized fields of the media industry, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"I think fact-checking is now one of the most politicized areas of the media industry," she said at a media forum dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA). "It is surprising, but countries and organizations are now politically fighting not for the truth, but for the right to call truth as truth and lies as lies. It seems that we should join forces, stand up for the truth together and denounce lies, but no, even this has essentially become a front line, a line of contact between opposing sides."

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman noted that "the architecture of global information dissemination is still structured as if Western mainstream media know the facts better than other media outlets, and they are doing everything to essentially monopolize the right to disseminate information under the brand of "only we have the truth."

"Ranking algorithms, moderation standards and recommendation mechanisms are all concentrated in several Silicon Valley companies that, at the request of their governments or owners, can overnight erase the presence of entire media organizations," Zakharova stressed. "This is no longer about competitive journalism. It is about the fact that truth has begun to be censored, while lies have begun to be promoted."

The OANA media forum is being held in Moscow in the year marking the organization’s 65th anniversary. OANA brings together 41 news agencies from 33 countries. TASS is organizing the forum and will hold the OANA chairmanship until 2028. TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov heads the organization, while TASS Deputy Director General Marat Abulkhatin is OANA’s secretary general.