Journalists learn new skills to debunk fake news

Journalism practitioners and students from various institutions and media organization are in Kampala for a two day skills enhancement on fact checking to debunk fake news, misinformation and disinformation.

The training offered by Debunk Media Initiative, a fact checking organization, ends on June 22. 

Debunk brought together 20 trainees with the  aim of contributing to skilling media professionals to be able to detect misinformation, which is inaccurate information, especially one which is intended to deceive.  

Another topic of concern was disinformation, false information intended to mislead the audience, often leading to the distortion of facts and public opinions.

Mr Edgar Mathew Karuhanga, the lead fact checker at Debunk Media Initiative told Monitor yesterday that there is a gap in the media space for fact checkers. 

“We hope that in the future this training will help to inculcate the culture of fact checking in Ugandan media space so we can have residential fact checkers at media houses. These will help to fact check information before it goes on air to ensure credibility for the media house and the journalists themselves,” Mr Karuhanga said.

The media plays a key agenda setting role but often falls short of the means to delink from the ever evolving digital era of fake news, disinformation and misinformation. 

Fake news is also a prominent danger to the journalism profession, a reason Debunk is skilling the journalists to identify false or misleading information, verify facts, correct inaccuracies to promote accurate reporting and keep journalism relevant to the public.

Karuhanga added that disinformation, can influence individuals to make inaccurate decisions that that can be life threatening or disrupt their livelihoods.

Rukia Nabbanja, the content lead at Debunk Media Initiative  said the training is targeting journalists for purposes of improving accuracy in their reporting which is central in delivering reliable and trustworthy information to the public. 

“We are enhancing their ability to verify claims, cross-check sources, and substantiate information before publishing or broadcasting to promote accuracy.” Nabbanja explained.

She added that as the trainees continue with their careers and applying the skills from today, it will restore the dwindling trust in journalism.

Some of the trainees hope to use the skills gained during the training to hold leaders in positions of authority accountable.

Ms, Charity Akullo, a writer with Monitor, Lira Bureau said;

"This training was so timely and very impactful being my first time to be skilled with a fact checking skills."

Debunk Media Initiative is a fact checking organisation creating and editing journalistic content by fact checking information published on the internet.