March 15, 2023

The Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) led by ARIJ concluded a “Pre-Publication Fact-Checking” workshop, 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).

23 journalists from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq participated in the workshop, which was coached by Ahmed Ashour,  an Egyptian Investigative Journalist. He works as a coach at ARIJ and holds a Master’s degree in “International Media Studies” from Bonn University.

Through  12-hours training over 3 days, Ashour  trained journalists on the basics of pre-publication fact-checking, checking sources, articles, scientific information, in addition to photos and videos. The training raised a lot of interaction and questions to the trainer during the exercises, the trainer also gave assignments at the end of the workshop and requested to be completed at a specific time, these assignments are used to evaluate the participants and to ensure their understanding.

The trainer’s role has been praised by the journalists participating in the workshop, for the knowledge and skills they acquired after finishing the training, and they have shown enthusiasm to participate in more workshops of that kind, with the desire to enhance their skills on the domain. It is noteworthy 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.