Building Capacity in a Time of Digital Chaos: How Arabi Facts Hub Works with Media Students and Journalists to Rebuild Trust in Info.
Al-Fanar Media and Arabi Facts Hub, a nonprofit organisation that detects false Arabic content on the internet, are uniting to combat misinformation.
The two organisations have signed a protocol agreeing to exchange expertise and conduct training courses and research on confronting misinformation and disinformation in Arabic content on the internet.
This agreement is rooted in both parties’ belief in the importance of professional journalism, fostering a culture of fact-checking, and strengthening the abilities of journalists, researchers, and students in digital media, media literacy, and investigative journalism.
The protocol involves the two organisations running joint training programmes for journalists, researchers, and students; organising fact-checking meetings, seminars, and panel discussions at Arab universities; distributing educational material about media literacy, fact-checking, and open-source information; and combining to publish investigative reports.
Combating Misinformation
Mohammad El-Hawary, Al-Fanar Media’s executive director and editor-in-chief, said, “Al-Fanar Media’s strategy is built on coordinating efforts and establishing partnerships with Arab and international institutions to help Arab youth combat misinformation and rumours. We do this by producing training and educational material and organising events to try to create responsible content creators for traditional media and social media audiences.”
Al-Fanar Media’s efforts in this area have included joining the Unesco Alliance for Media and Information Literacy, offering media literacy training workshops for Arab university students in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, and starting a Gen Z project that trains young content creators in professional journalism standards, particularly for social media.
The organisation also organises online discussions with experts and academics through its Al-Fanar Media Talks series.
El-Hawary added: “Our world today is extremely complex, yet highly interconnected in terms of shared destiny and risks. It requires flexibility, the exchange of expertise and best practices, and understanding specific societies when providing resources that let communities, often led by young people, tackle these common challenges in a responsible manner.
“We value our partnership with Arabi Facts Hub and are pleased that Al-Fanar Media’s platforms can be a window through which the Arab public—including young people, experts, academics, and others interested in Arab affairs—can access the professional output produced by the Arabi Facts Hub team.”
The collaboration with Arabi Facts Hub will include forming joint policies and fact-checking events. It is one of a series of new partnerships that Al-Fanar Media is planning to build on its reputation and increase its impact in the Arab world, El-Hawary said.
New Horizons in Media Literacy
Maha Salah El-Din, head of communications and partnerships at Arabi Facts Hub, also expressed her enthusiasm for the partnership with Al-Fanar Media, saying it opened new horizons for cooperation in media literacy to address the information disorder in the Arab region.
The training, academic, and editorial projects that the project plans will help journalism and fact-checking abilities in the Arab region, she said.
El-Hawary and El-Din both said they hoped that the cooperation would raise public awareness about misinformation and help curb its spread.
The formal cooperation agreement is valid for one year but will automatically renew as long as each party wishes to continue.
Al-Fanar Media is an independent news organisation that covers higher education, research, and culture in the Arab world. It seeks to provide accurate and balanced content in both Arabic and English about issues relevant to Arab higher education across the region and beyond.
Arabi Facts Hub is an independent platform that promotes a culture of fact-checking and combating misinformation in the Arab region through training, content production, support for investigative journalism, and building skills for journalists, researchers, and media students.
source/content: al-fanarmedia.org (headline edited)
_____________
________________
ARAB MEDIA