News agencies are the gatekeepers of information, the president of the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), Aimilios Perdikaris, said on Thursday speaking at the conference organized by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Economic and Social Council of Portugal, in Lisbon, entitled: "Citizens can defeat misinformation."
"News agencies distribute the news. They are the main source. They are the gatekeepers of information and facts, and they have a duty to uphold the truth," Perdikaris stated.
He explained that they do have the right to make a mistake, as it is a human factor, but they do not have the right to spread fake news intentionally, emphasizing that misinformation and disinformation are both a problem and a challenge at the same time.
"Fact-checking is not a new idea, as all journalists have always been obliged to cross-check their information. But today, fact-checking is truly important, as social media are expanding, information is free on the Internet and is used by both journalists and citizens as the main source. That can become a trap for us, the media professionals, as well as for the entire society."
The president of the Athens-Macedonian News Agency stressed the need to educate not only journalists, but also the general population, people who are recipients of all kinds of information, of all ages, even students in schools. In this framework, he highlighted the important role that the EU and its institutions can play in media literacy that needs to be inserted even in the school programmes.
"We are cooperating with academics, universities and unions and we need the support of the state and the EU in order to fight disinformation," he said.
He also referred to the adoption of the Code of Ethics for the use of creative Artificial Intelligence by the Panhellenic Federation of Journalists' Union (POESY) last week as "we are facing a new Industrial Revolution with Artificial Intelligence." 
"AI will change us, is already changing us and our lives, but it will not vanish journalists and you cannot vanish a journalist in the field, a war correspondent, a photo reporter, a journalist who covers physical disasters or even political events, like elections," the president of the Athens-Macedonian New Agency stated, adding that the "the journalists will be the ones who push the button before publishing."
"So, AI can help us make our output better, but cannot replace us - it's just a tool," he emphasized. However, he explained that "we have to get upskilled, change our skills indeed, but we also have to follow the rules as the use of Artificial Intelligence in journalism and the avoidance of fake news is a matter of ethics, deontology and compliance with the rules in general."
So, regulation is the key and the question regarding misinformation and disinformation is who is controlling the news, he underlined, making clear that "we cannot control the news as a kind of censorship. We must be credible and reliable with distributing the real news, just the truth."
The crucial difference is that a professional journalist should be a gatekeeper of truth with his work, following the rules.
Concluding his speech, Perdikaris said that facts are always facts. "Fake is the way we describe them or analyze them. We are all free to express our opinions and feelings, this is essential in democracy, but democracy means that we are credible and stick to the truth."