Within the framework of the ARIJ 16th Forum, entitled “cross-border collaboration in a fragmented world“, from 1st to 3rd of December 2023, the ARIJ’s AFCN organised a “AFCN Climate Change Fact-checking Lab” , which took place between November 29-30, to fact-check claims about the Conference of the Parties (COP28) which held in the United Arab Emirates this year between Nov 30 – Dec 12.
In preparation for the lab, AFCN organised on November 6th a virtual workshop for 6 Arab fact-checkers to train them on the most important topics related to COP and the most important claims often associated with it, and how to find reliable sources, with the supervision of the climate change journalist,
Hadeer ElHadary.
Participated in the lab over two days in Amman, 11 Arab and European fact-checkers from 9 different countries (Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Spain and the United Kingdom) and fact-checking organisations/platforms around the world
(Tahaqaq 360,
Tayqan,
FactYemen,
Maldita,
15min,
Demagog Association,
Myth Detector and,
Logically Facts),
where the fact-checkers worked on debunking claims related to COP28.
On the first day, the coaches
Julia Neuman
and
Hadeer ElHadary,
guided the trainees to reliable sources to which they could refer during finding a claim or debunking process. The fact-checkers gave a brief of the ideas they would work on in groups, and at the end of the day, they summarised what they had reached and fact-checked.
The two supervisors began on the second day by giving a quick summary of the first day, the completed ideas and what will be worked on. The fact-checker distributed again in a new arrangement in groups and reached final copies of several fact-checking drafts about COP28 that will be published on their platforms.