The power of fact-checks in Iran & observing World Press Freedom Day
This week we have updates from Iran, Palestine, Hong Kong and Brazil. In Iran the Ayatollah and state media walked back claims about the size of Iran’s economy after two fact-checks by Iranian fact-checking organization, FactNameh, went viral. An award-winning Hong Kong journalist was found guilty of a crime for using a public database to expose police failings. In Brazil, we take a look at why people don't come back for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Join us on May 3 to observe World Press Freedom Day and celebrate the work of women journalists from Indonesia, Mexico, Lebanon and Kenya. Register here for the Zoom event.
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The latest top stories
How a fact check led to a rare retraction from Iran’s supreme leader (Poynter)
Toward the end of his speech last week celebrating the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made a stark admission — he’d misled the public. The admission came after two of FactNamesh's fact checks of claims made by both Khamenei and Iran’s state media went viral and spurred criticism of the government in the broader Persian diaspora.
Khamenei’s retraction is one of the most important moments in FactNameh’s history. The site, which is based in Canada, has been blocked by Iranian internet service providers since August 2018, months after its first fact check of Khamenei in March of that year.
"It’s probably the first time in the past three decades that Ayatollah Khamenei admitted to a mistake and corrected himself..It shows that our work can reach the highest ranks in Iran, and I think that’s because of the support of our audience." — Farhad Souzanchi, editor at the Iranian fact-checking organization FactNameh
Guilty Verdict for Hong Kong Journalist as Media Faces ‘Frontal Assault’ (The New York Times)
Hong Kong’s reputation as a bastion of press freedom in Asia, home to journalism that is far more aggressive and independent than that found next door in mainland China, has been under sustained pressure for years.
Recent targets include the freewheeling pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, whose founder was sentenced to 14 months in prison last week, and RTHK, a public broadcaster known for its deep investigations. On Thursday, one of the network’s prizewinning producers, Choy Yuk-ling, was found guilty of making false statements to obtain public records for a report that was critical of the police. She was ordered to pay a fine of 6,000 Hong Kong dollars, about $775.
"I realized since my arrest it’s not my individual issue....It’s a bigger issue of press freedom in Hong Kong." — Choy Yuk-ling
Palestinian Hackers Tricked Victims Into Installing iOS Spyware (Wired)
Facebook uncovered two digital espionage campaigns out of Palestine targeting students, security and government officials in Palestine, as well as anti-Fatah or pro-Syrian opposition human rights activists and journalists in Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Libya.
"To disrupt both these operations, we took down their accounts, released malware hashes, blocked domains associated with their activity, and alerted people who we believe were targeted by these groups to help them secure their accounts."— Facebook's head of cyberespionage investigations, Mike Dvilyanski, and director of threat disruption, David Agranovich
From ‘fake news’ to inequality, reasons that lead Brazilians not to come back for the second dose of the vaccine (El Pais)
At least 6% of Brazilians who took the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine did not receive the second and therefore cannot be considered immunized against the coronavirus. Lack of doses at health posts, flaws in the Brazilian strategy itself and even fake news about immunizers are some of the causes pointed out by specialists for vaccine abandonment in the country ―a problem that has been causing concern in other campaigns in recent years and has increased in pandemic.
"In general, city halls are asking people to book online, this also creates barriers for people who have less access and who do not have digital inclusion...The lack of an intense communication campaign also gets in the way." — Ethel Maciel, epidemiologist
Meedan Updates
Defending Media Freedom in 2021: Check Global Network event to mark World Press Freedom Day
Join us and our panelists on World Press Freedom Day to discuss strategies to defend press freedom and to recognise and honour the work of journalists who have struggled to uncover truth in challenging times.
Panelists: Devi Asmarani from Magdalene, Indonesia, Lara Bitar from The Public Source, Lebanon, Tania Montenegro from Animal Politico, Mexico and Asha Mwilu from Debunk Media
Register here to join the online event on May 3, 2021.