International Fact-Checking Day: Crisis response is a priority
and a pilot project in Brazil explores the use of offline games to counter online misinformation
Hey Checklisters!
We hope you’re staying safe and healthy.
April 2nd marks International Fact-Checking Day, a day that recognizes and celebrates the work of fact-checkers across the globe. Whether it’s elections or natural calamities, fact-checkers have been battling storms of misinformation by providing facts and promoting credible information. Last year has been challenging for fact-checkers with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as well as earthquakes and climate-related crises. Recognizing the challenges faced by fact-checkers, Meedan marked International Fact-Checking Day by highlighting the work of our partners Fatabayyano and The Healthy Indian Project. The online conversation focused on the challenges fact-checkers have had to face during periods of crisis, particularly during the pandemic and natural disasters, such as earthquakes. In case you missed the conversation, you can listen to it here. Our partner Africa Check also put together some lessons that they have learned from tackling election disinformation in Africa.
In this edition of the Checklist we take a look at attacks on a prominent journalist in Algeria, a minority community in China and civil liberties in Sub-Saharan Africa. This issue of the newsletter also looks at a pilot project in Brazil under Meedan’s Check Global Program that explores the use of offline games for media literacy and misinformation education.
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Also, take a look at the Townsquare section where we share opportunities and events.
If there are updates you would like us to share from your country or region, please reach out to us at checklist@meedan.com.
The Check Global Report
By Meedan’s Check Global team in Beirut, Kochi, Bhimtal, and Nairobi
Algerian court jails prominent journalist for three years (Reporters Without Borders)
An Algerian court has sentenced prominent journalist Ihsane El-Kadi to three years in prison for “foreign financing of his business” in a case denounced by rights groups.
“This totally disproportionate verdict is the logical outcome of the denial of justice to which Ihsane El Kadi has been subjected ever since his arrest. This decision taken against a courageous journalist and media owner, who has continued, against all odds, to practice his journalism freely, rightly shocks much of his profession. The verdict is all the more unacceptable as the prosecution case proved to be empty, devoid of any evidence.” — Khaled Drareni, RSF’s North Africa representative
African countries expend civil liberties to deal with dissent (The East African)
According to the latest Civic Freedoms Monitor report by Civicus, civil liberties remain restricted in 44 of the 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with freedom being either repressed or obstructed. These violations include extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, invasion of privacy, and repression of freedom of expression and media. Government actors were identified as the main perpetrators of these threats.
“Intimidation, perpetrated by state and non-state actors, occurred in different forms, including through police summons for questioning, threats of prosecution, house searches without warrants, office break-ins and raids and online or offline threatening messages” — Civicus Civic Freedoms Monitor report
Meet the Uyghur journalist working to protect her people. | Analyst News (Analyst News)
Women are the biggest victims of human rights crises, and Uyghur women today don’t have a choice as to what language they want to speak and what they want to wear. Even their kids are forcibly separated from them. And they’re being used as forced labor slaves and forced marriages are happening.
“This is not a regular job. This is a duty to help people, to be a voice for the entire voiceless people, and also keeping our culture and language alive.” — Gulchehra Hoja, Uyghur activist and journalist
What we are learning about election disinformation in Africa and what you can do about it (Africa Check)
For Fact-Checking Day, Africa Check put together some lessons that they have learned from tackling election disinformation in Africa. With more than 20 countries on the continent scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in 2023, there is a high likelihood that disinformation will adversely affect public debate and post-election stability.
“African countries need to find ways to build resilience against political disinformation. This requires a sustained effort to promote transparency, accountability and democratic values. This will help public figures and political campaigns to base their public statements on evidence. Countries need to invest in raising awareness of the dangers of disinformation and promoting critical thinking skills among citizens, even as they devise ways to ask social media platforms to label or remove false information and crack down on disinformation networks” — Africa Check
Can offline games counter online misinformation?
A pilot project in Brazil under Meedan’s Check Global Program explores the use of offline games for media literacy and misinformation education.
Meedan is collaborating with long-time partner Birmingham City University and academics at six institutions in Brazil with shared interests in the use of offline games in education contexts.
The pilot partly tackles the issue in many of Meedan’s partner countries, of engagement methods being affected by poor or unstable internet or power infrastructure, and issues of low digital inclusion for communities, organizations, or individuals. However, it also speaks to and explores interests in the use of offline games in their various forms for educational or communicative means.
Townsquare
Training for Asia-Pacific journalists: Poynter and Meta partner to provide Fact-Checking Fundamentals for Asia-Pacific journalists. The self-paced fact-checking course is available in 15 languages, including Korean, Pashto, Urdu and more.
April 12, 2023
Thomson Reuters Foundation is offering a training program on “Reporting on Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Kenya.” The training seeks to advance journalists’ knowledge and skills to report effectively on these issues.
April 29, 2023
Investigative journalism workshop for journalists and students: Bajo Radar collective has launched a training that will cover data journalism, fact-checking and other topics.
What else we’re reading
Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?
A recent report showed which countries’ governments request the most data from several of the tech industry’s biggest firms—specifically, Google, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
An Australian mayor said he may sue OpenAI if it does not correct ChatGPT's false claims that he had served time in prison for bribery.
TikTok has been fined £12.7m by the UK's data watchdog for failing to protect the privacy of children.