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UNESCO supports the creation of a Fact-Checking Alliance in Timor-Leste
On 14-18 November 2022, UNESCO partnered with the Timor-Leste Press Council and Cek Fakta Indonesia for a four-day Training of Trainers on fact-checking and an Editors Forum to set up a National Fact-Checking Alliance.
The Editors Forum brought together 30 representatives from media outlet, Media Organisation, Civil Society and Universities to secure commitments from the media and plan concrete steps for launching the national Fact-Checking Alliance. The Alliance, which will include journalists, students and scholars, will pilot its work ahead of the 2023 Parliamentary Elections. The website and coordination of the Alliance will fall under the Timor-Leste Press Council.
As the media compete in this digital era to be the fastest in delivering the news to the public, the quality and veracity of information often falter. Today, there is a need and a demand for a national Fact-Checking Alliance in Timor-Leste to combat the spread of disinformation and misinformation.
UNESCO representative, Yekthi Hesthi Murthi, stressed the importance of collaboration among different actors for the success of the Alliance. 鈥淒is/misinformation cannot be countered by the media alone. It is a multifaceted issue affecting the entire world; everyone has a role to play in limiting the spread of online harmful content, especially academia and the youth,鈥 she said.
With the latest at 51% in Timor-Leste, the spread of disinformation is becoming a critical issue for informed decision-making and social cohesion. As the use of digital technologies for disinformation is increasingly sophisticated, fact-checking has become a more complex yet critical task for journalists and the wider public.
The Training of Trainers (ToT) gathered 30 participants from media and academia for an advanced fact-checking training using digital tools. It is expected that they will then train more journalists, students and researchers to become contributors to the national Fact-Checking Alliance.
UNESCO invited two trainers from Cek Fakta Indonesia, representing the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and Masyarakat Anti Fitnah Indonesia (MAFINDO), to deliver the workshop based on their expertise and the UNESCO handbook on 鈥溾. They also shared their unique experience with building a national coalition in Indonesia.
The participants received hands-on training on the 鈥渁natomy鈥 of hoaxes, social media audit, location and time verification, google search techniques, digital hygiene, and fact-checking ethics. Many said the information in the training was new to them and they were committed to applying what they had learned.
Previously I used Google for only mundane tasks. Following the training, I am now able to use Google Maps and Street View for verifying location and photos.
We lack information on digital literacy and online fact-checking. This training helped expand our knowledge and we will be able to share it with others, particularly the youth, to promote a healthy and transparent Internet ecosystem.
Moving forward, UNESCO will support the participants of the ToT to deliver trainings to 120 individual journalists, students, and lecturers. In this process, the new trainers will be further assisted by Cek Fakta Indonesia. A youth competition is also foreseen to encourage participation in the trainings and enable students to put their learnings into practice.
The fact-checking initiative is part of the UNESCO project on 鈥淪trengthening the Media鈥檚 Self-Regulatory Mechanisms鈥, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands. Since 2017, this project has benefitted over 1000 media actors, including close to 500 young journalists and journalism students. 91麻豆国产精品自拍 been working closely with the Press Council, journalism associations and academia to provide capacity-building, facilitate peer-to-peer learning and support public awareness-raising activities.
