Dealing with Disinformation: How Is Disinformation Shifting Democratic Processes and International Relations?

Disinformation is a cause for tremendous concern to countries around the world – including democracies. Information manipulation has become more common – and far more sophisticated – in recent years. There are domestic and foreign actors who engage in disinformation campaigns to disrupt democratic processes or otherwise make money by intentionally spreading false or misleading information. How resilient are nation-states and the international order? What can be done to address disinformation at the national and multilateral levels?

Join the American Council on Germany and the German Consulate General New York for the second installment of the series on “Dealing with Disinformation.” German diplomat and former journalist Ralf Beste and Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications at the United Nations, will discuss the impact of disinformation on international relations during a webinar on Thursday, October 12, at 11:00 am ET.

Ralf Beste is a German diplomat and former journalist. He currently serves as the Director-General for Culture and Society at the German Federal Foreign Office. From September 2019 until March 2022, he was Germany’s Ambassador to Austria. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of the Policy Planning Staff in the Foreign Office, where he was responsible for the 2014 “Review of German Foreign Policy.” He became the Director of the Policy Planning staff in 2017.

From 1996 until 2000, he was the Parliamentary Correspondent for the Berliner Zeitung – first in Bonn and then in Berlin. In 2001, he moved to the Berlin Bureau of Der Spiegel, where he reported on foreign and security policy and the Greens.

Mr. Beste studied History in Bochum, Bielefeld, and Baltimore and holds Master’s degrees from Bielefeld University and The Johns Hopkins University.

Melissa Fleming is Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications at the United Nations, having taken up her post in September 2019.

Ms. Fleming leads the UN’s Department of Global Communications, which is responsible for informing global audiences about the state of the world and engaging them to build support for the Organization’s work and goals.

In this role, Ms. Fleming oversees the UN’s strategic communications operations, including its multilingual news and digital media services, public outreach programmes, and global campaigns.

Under her leadership, the UN Department of Global Communications engages in far-reaching efforts to address misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech. She is leading on the development of a Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms.

Previously, Ms. Fleming served 10 years at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as Head of Global Communications. Prior to that, she was the Spokesperson and Head of Media and Outreach at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She also headed the Press and Public Information team at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Ms. Fleming is a TED speaker, the author of the book  A Hope More Powerful than the Sea, and the host of the award-winning UN podcast Awake at Night.

Ms. Fleming holds a Master of Science in Journalism from the College of Communication, Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from Oberlin College.