By: Patience Baye-Kromah
IPNEWS: Over twenty (20) Journalists from two (2) Counties are currently undergoing a two-day fact-checking online training to enhance their skills in verifying information and ensuring the accuracy of news reporting during the upcoming bi-election in Grand Gedeh and Nimba counties.
The training is held by The Stage Media Liberia’s first verified fact-checking network, organized to enable journalists in Nimba and Grand Gedeh to have hands-on experience in fact-checking and verification as both counties are expected to go to elections, with Madam Zainab Oyiza Sanni Managing Editor of the development News in Nigeria and Ken Kiunga Teaching Fellow Google News Initiative as facilitators.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Madam Bettie Johnson- Mbayo Co-Partner at Stage Media welcomed the participants and urged them to take advantage of the training and be more eager to learn new skills to advance in their reportage, she stressed the facilitators are experts in fact-checking and therefore, it is important to consider their knowledge.
“We hope that the capacity of participants and the knowledge gained will be accessed in the respective newsrooms and counties. Follow-up support will be for the TSM team to work with interested participants to verify claims.” Bettie said
Day one of the training led by Madam Zainab, covered a deep discussion on the basics of fact-checking, linkages, and verification tools to fact-checking.
The training runs from April 16, to end on Wednesday, April 17.
Speaking with two of the participants, Lloyd Farley from Grand Gedeh and Roger Akin Tahn of Nimba County overwhelmingly expressed their gratitude for the invaluable information and practical tools the will gain from the training. Lloyd said the training will help reduce Misinformation and Disinformation, which he terms, may tend to bring chaos within communities. He named internet coverage as one of the challenges in the fact- Checking
“ I feel more confident in my ability to verify information and report accurately during the upcoming bi-election in my county after the training and I hope at the end of this training to gain more knowledge on the basic tools to use in verifying Misinformation and Disinformation,“ he said.
For his part, Roger Tahn said Fact-checking is being misconceived by people as a witch hunt. People who fact-check claims tend to be targeted more especially for politicians who believe that the fact-checking effort is meant to expose them to the public. They therefore consider fact-checking as a barrier to goals.
“not being new to fact-checking, I will apply the ideas and skills gained from today’s training to tap on my previous fact-checking knowledge on verifying claims and contents that are attracting huge public attention.
I got motivated to attend the fact-checking training because I believe that fact-checking is a new phenomenon in the Liberian media. Venturing into the fact-checking phenomenon using technology will help to filter information in the public. I am also motivated because fact-checking impacts the community more than the normal media practices.”
Fact-checking is the process of verifying the accuracy of information, claims, or statements in news articles, speeches, reports, social media posts, and other forms of communication.
The Stage Media (TSM) is an independent fact-checking media organization signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), established in August 2020 with a mission to investigate and fact-check information disseminated through various media to reduce the level of deception, confusion, and misinformation.
