20-22 February, 2023

The Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) led by ARIJ concluded its first workshop in 2023 on “Pre and Post-Publication Fact-Checking”, under the “SA7” project. This project is part of the regional program “Qarib”, which is implemented by the French Media Development Agency (CFI) and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).

Participated in the workshop 28 media professors from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq, which was instructed for three days from 20 to 22 February. On the first day, the AFCN manager, Saja Mortada, trained on ARIJ pre-publication fact-checking methodology, and in the following two days, the fact-checking team at Agence France-Presse (AFP), Joyce Hanna and Josette Abi Tamer, has trained on post-publication fact-checking methodology tools, such as reverse image search, video search tools, archiving tools, and instruction on how to detect deep fake through artificial intelligence.

“Dr. Sahar Khalifa”, a faculty member at the Iraqi University – Faculty of Media, published a picture of the training on her Twitter page, and added “Fact-Checking is one of the novel and important topics in the field of journalism, and to cope with these updates, we must know a lot about this field, especially its importance in press coverage and in the field of Investigative Journalism, as well as in the field of media and media literacy“.

For her part, “Dr. Hanadi Dwaikat”, a faculty member at the Faculty of Modern Media – Arab American University in Palestine, expressed at the end of the training, “I really thank ARIJ for all the efforts. I would like to say that the trainers experience provided us with new knowledge that raised our responsibilities, as after this workshop, a lot of new era changeables we have learned relies on us to pass and teach to our students”.

It is worth noting that the “Sa7” project aims to promote best practices, methodologies, and tools for fact-checking in the Arab region, particularly in four countries facing political, economic, and security challenges and where public trust in the media is diminishing, which are; Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq.