On January 17th 2022, the Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) led by ARIJ organised the third webinar titled “Verify with us scientific content”. This webinar is part of the “Edit and Verify” project, which was launched by the AFCN Network, in partnership with the Meta Journalism Project. The webinar was attended by more than 200 participants via Zoom and had 850 Views on Facebook.
The webinar was held by the scientific journalist and trainer Mohamed Elsonpati, who is the founder of the “Science and Media Forum”, while the investigative journalist and trainer Firas Taweel moderated it.
At the beginning of the Webinar, Elsonpati explained numerous steps and tools which help journalists to verify scientific information available on the Internet and how to assess their quality by applying scientific methods in reviewing the information, whether by examining the evidence in the content, ensuring the qualifications of the authors, and resorting to verifying the evidence when necessary.
Elsonpati also shared with the attendees a set of databases specialised in scientific research, and the most important platforms in providing scientific content. The webinar witnessed an interaction between the trainer and the attendees who asked questions related to the verification of unsourced scientific research and the methods to verify the content promoting the alternative therapies.
“Edit and Verify” project aims to improve the skills of journalists, fact-checkers, and journalism students and empower them to verify various information disseminated through traditional and digital media. The goal is to increase transparency, establish media ethical standards and a culture of accountability, and help restore the public’s trust in the media and Arabic content.
Session Recording