ARIJ’s AFCN Regional Meetings Report 2022-2023

“The Road to Building an Arab Fact-checking Community”

When the Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) from ARIJ began organizing its regional meetings in early 2022, the majority of fact-checking organizations/initiatives in the Arab world did not know each other well enough to share knowledge, trust each other, collaborate or discuss their challenges and opportunities. Today, at the beginning of 2024, after organizing 8 regional meetings (6 virtual and 2 in-person), and many efforts focused on capacity building, protection, innovation, and networking in various forms; the fact-checking organizations/initiatives and freelance fact-checkers in the Arab world now have a network through which they rely on. Fact-checkers know each other personally and professionally and are ready to cooperate and help each other.

During these quarterly meetings, fact-checking organizations/initiatives from all over the Arab world meet to discuss. With objectives ranging from building a strong fact-checking network and learning from past mistakes to engaging in creative brainstorming; to forming a strong body for safety, these meetings embody the spirit of continuous improvement and collective work centered around one goal: to reduce the negative impact of mis/disinformation in our societies.

During these meetings, 38 fact-checking institutions/initiatives and several freelance fact-checkers reached many recommendations, which the ARIJ’s AFCN took upon itself to work on; to enhance the work and impact of fact-checking in the Arab world. You can access to the Arabic version of the report by clicking here.

#	Title	Date	Form	Nb of attendees by total/ organizations/countries/gender
1	AFCN Code of Principles	February 7, 2022	Virtual	23 Fact-checkers 30% Females 18 Fact-checking Organization/Initiative 10 Countries
2	Fact-checking & media faculties: How can we collaborate together?	May 9, 2022	Virtual	22 Fact checker & 8 Media professors 33% Females 16 Fact-checking Organisation/Initiatives & 8 Media universities 9 Countries
3	Integrate fact-checking in media organizations editorial workflow	August 9, 2022	Virtual	27 Fact-checkers & 9 Journalists 38.8% Females 18 Fact-checking Organisation/Initiatives & 7 Media Organisations 12 Countries
4	AFCN: 2022 achievements and 2023 plans	Dec 3, 2022	In-person	42 Fact-checkers 38% Females 27 Organisation/Initiatives 12 Countries
5	How can our fact-checking efforts make a higher impact?	March 2, 2023	Virtual	28 Fact-checkers 40% Females 22 Organisation/Initiatives 9 Countries
6	AFCN code of principles update and evaluation	May 11, 2023	Virtual	26 Fact-checkers 43% Females 20 Organisation/Initiatives 9 Countries
7	Strategies for fact-checking organizations to raise fund	August 8, 2023	Virtual	23 Fact-checkers 40% Females 18 Organisation/Initiatives 9 Countries
8	AFCN Theory of Change	December 2, 2023	In-person	46 Fact-checkers 39.13% Females 25 Organization/Initiatives 11 Countries

“Thanks to ARIJ’s AFCN community, whose valuable presence, important ideas, and openness to dialogue, discussion, and cooperation made these regional meetings successful and left a positive impact on all our work”

AFCN Manager, Saja Mortada

10 Key Lessons Learned from the AFCN regional meetings:

• Together, we form a community:
  Collaboration is no longer just a key to success; it has become its foundation. In a world of fact-checking rife with technological, legal, digital, psychological, and financial challenges, and amidst the rampant spread of misinformation, especially during crises, collaboration is not an option but a necessity. Through collaboration, we can make our work more efficient, faster, and more widespread. The network will continue to enhance this collaboration as much as possible in the coming years.
• Competition is necessary:
  Enhancing collaboration among fact-checkers organizations/initiatives in the Arab world does not mean eliminating competition. On the contrary, it increases its importance but in a more professional and effective manner. While we compete in specific areas, we can collaborate in the same or entirely different fields. The network will support legitimate competition and reject any competition that is unprofessional/unethical, based on its principles. Here also, specialization and finding a unique niche helps get away from direct common competition.
• The problem is not just in the need for funding:
  The challenge lies in the efficiency of fact-checking organizations/initiatives in the Arab world in seeking funding and their ability to succeed in that. This is what the AFCN network focuses on.
• Technology is no longer a luxury:
  It has become a necessity. Understanding the role of artificial intelligence and its importance for fact-checking, how it can support the process, and simultaneously harm it, will be a focus of future training areas for the network: technology and artificial intelligence.
• Our work should not remain 100% manual:
  Arabic-language fact-checking tools have become a critical need to accelerate our work. After localizing several tools and developing new ones, the network continues to facilitate and expedite the fact-checking process in Arabic, collaborating with leading partners and tech companies, making fact checking work in Arabic language more efficient.
• The need to collaborate with media faculties and media outlets in the Arab world:
  As the AFCN community, we cannot overlook the expected impact without working with media faculties to train students in fact-checking and with media outlets to introduce the concept of fact-checking, especially pre-publication. The network has taken on the responsibility of working on this, building on ARIJ’s 70+ colleges and universities collaboration in teaching “Investigative Journalism” curriculum for the last 10 years
• Is fact-checking a pressing need?
  To what extent does the misinformation and misleading information we fact-check cause harm? Is it important to fact-check it? Does the public really need to know its correction? Does it have a significant impact on the ground, or does it not make a difference? These are questions that the fact checking community globally is discussing, and the network encourages its community to be part of that discussion, and fact-check more important and impactful information, in addition to conducting investigations that uncover real disinformation campaigns. AFCN uniqueness in being part of ARIJ, is the bridge between investigative journalists community and fact-checkers community, that only working together can foster accountability.
• Impact and reaching the public are priorities:
  Our work deserves to reach the widest possible audience, not only in Arabic but also in other languages. The impact left by fact-checking platforms in the Arab world is still insufficient, and the network focuses on enhancing this impact in various ways, both qualitative and quantitative.
• International openness and collaboration with other regions:
  After years of supporting Arab fact-checking organizations/initiatives, it is time for them to become part of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and/or open to other ways of international cross border collaborations and also to open up more to collaborate with other fact-checking networks in Africa, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and India. The network prioritises this and focuses on advancing this further.
• Our goal has been and will remain one:
  To reduce the spread of misinformation and disinformation. In doing so, we give the public its natural right to access accurate information, help it make informed decisions, and alleviate any negative consequences, especially during crises. Our focus should always be on this goal and nothing else.