The course was held as part of the “Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists” project, which is supported by the EU.
During the two-day course, participants interacted via video call with specialists from two organisations known for their innovation in fact-checking.
On the first day, Stephane Grueso from the leading Spanish NGO tackling disinformation through fact-checking and data journalism, Maldita.es, introduced the topic of disinformation and revealed current trends within the International Fact-Checking Network.
Grueso also outlined methodologies, examples and case studies, as well as how to debunk misinformation through basic tools like tweets, photos, video and geolocation, among other topics.
The second day was covered by four trainers: Kansu Ekin Tanca, Gülin Çavuş, Öyküm Hüma Keskin and Emre İlkan Saklıca, who are part of Teyit, Turkey’s premier independent fact-checking social enterprise.
The training session covered various topics including the importance of technology and building a community of fact-checkers as well as the roots of online misinformation, the challenges it presents and solutions to it. The trainers also outlined advanced search techniques, digital news tracking, and how to use domain information and visual clues.
A total of 36 participants were part of the training, including 24 journalists and six students of journalism, 20 of whom were women.
BIRN and IPI believe the training will help young journalists tackle fake news and unverified reporting by helping them to spot fake news and provide verified information that adheres to journalistic standards. The delivered knowledge was practical, and will help journalists develop these skills further.
The project aims to organise two additional two-day training courses on the topic of false information featuring different international experts, so that both junior and professional journalists have the opportunity to participate in similar training courses in 2021.