AFCN organized a political fact-checking workshop ahead of ARIJ21 forum
December 5, 2021
On the sidelines of the #ARIJ21 annual forum, the Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN), held a Political fact-checking physical workshop, lasting for 3 days from 30 November to 2 December 2021, supported by the Norwegian Association for Critical and Investigative Press SKUP.
During the first two days of the workshop, the Executive Director of PolitiFact website, Aaron Sharokman, trained 20 fact-checkers from 10 Arab countries on the methodologies of political fact-checking, from choosing the fact-checkable information, selecting the good sources and the correct rating scale, and writing a fact-check in a compelling and clear way. In addition to a discussion on the spread of misinformation and disinformation worldwide, and the role of social media companies.
At the end of the second day, the Director General of ARIJ Rawan Damen, and AFCN manager Saja Mortada, presented AFCN plans and projects for 2022-2023 for the participants.
During the last day of the training, the trainer and data scientist Ali Srour, led an Idea Lab, in which the participants exchanged several ideas on developing useful tools and data sources for fact-checking in the region.
It is noteworthy that 20 fact-checkers from 16 fact-checking institutions/initiatives in the region, in addition to 4 freelance fact-checkers, exchanged ideas, experiences and knowledge in 3-days interactive workshop.