LAB 3 - Fact checking: is it worth the effort?

Lab 3 final report

initiative 1

Cross Check, First Draft, France/United Kingdom

CrossCheck France was launched in February 2017 to create a real-time collaborative verification service before the French presidential election. It brought together 37 local, regional and national newsrooms in France, as well as three from the UK (including the BBC) and one from Belgium.. CrossCheck debunked 64 stories on their website in French and English and spread infographics and videos on their Facebook page and Twitter account. The project trained 12 project editors, who were selected among final year or recently graduated journalism students. They were placed in twelve of the partnering newsrooms, and they were managed by an editor-in-chief. The overall editorial partner was Agence France Press and further partners included French newspaper “Le Monde”, Google News Lab and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

https://firstdraftnews.com/

Presenter(s)

Marie BOHNER

Project coordinator of CrossCheck France

France

Marie Bohner is a free lance consultant and project coordinator. She joined First Draft's team for CrossCheck at the time of the 2017 French presidential elections. With more than 15 years experience in the coordination of cultural and human rights focused projects in Alsace, Europe and around the world: Dignity International, Ekta Parishad / Ekta Europe, Global Voices, L'Ososphère... She also writes for arts and culture journals and media. She studied Literature in Paris, Cultural project management in Lyon and ESC-Rights in Geneva.

initiative 2

AfricaCheck, Senegal

Africa Check is a non-profit organisation set up in 2012 to promote accuracy in public debate and the media in Africa. The goal of its work is to raise the quality of information available to society across the continent. To do this effectively, Africa Check applies the best practices in fact-checking, recognised by the top non-partisan fact-checking organisations around the world and adhering to their fundamental principles of impartiality, transparency and accuracy.

Presenter(s)

Robert HOLLOWAY

President of Africa Check

United Kingdom

Robert Holloway is the President of Africa Check. Former journalist, he worked for 33 years for Agence France-Presse as head of the English desk, Director of the office in Sydney, correspondent for the United Nations, foreign editor-in-chief and assistant editor-in-chief. He was also Director of the AFP Foundation, a non-profit organization that was founded to defend freedom of expression through the training of journalists in emerging countries. He is British origin and French nationality.

Discussants

Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.

Jamal Eddine NAJI

Director General of Audiovisual Communication

Morocco

Former Professor and researcher, Jamal Eddine Naji began to practice journalism in 1973, as a columnist in the Moroccan print media. He is a board member of ORBICOM, the Network of UNESCO Chairs in communication and founder of its Chair "Public Communication and Community” in Rabat. He is also member of the “World Radio and Television Council (WRTVC)” supported by UNESCO. Author of specialized books in journalism, communication and human rights, Mr Naji was also General Coordinator of the National Debate " Media and Society", launched in Parliament on January 28th, 2010, and attested in late 2011 by two reports (Diagnosis and Roadmap Recommendations) (www.mediasociete.ma), establishing what is collectively known today as " Le Livre Blanc des médias au Maroc".

Gotson PIERRE

Editor of AlterPresse

Haiti

Gotson Pierre leads the online agency AlterPresse www.alterpresse.org and the online AlterRadio www.alterradio.org (part of Groupe Médialternatif). Born in Port-au-Prince, he studied economics and politics. He started his career in journalism in 1981, working for Haitian and foreign media, and also got involved in training young journalists. In 1994, he contributed to launching the movement of community radios and led the Group of Reflection and Action for Freedom of the Press (GRALIP). In 2001, he founded Groupe Médialternatif www.medialternatif.org to promote communication rights.

moderator

Bertand LEVANT

International Organisation of La Francophonie

France

Bertrand Levant holds a master's degree in international relations, a master's degree in communication and journalism and a master's degree in European studies. After an experience as journalist in the newspaper "Le Soir", in 2011 he joined the Higher Audiovisual Council of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (Belgium) as advisor in charge of coordinating the Belgian Presidency of the French-speaking Network of Media Regulators (REFRAM), which brings together 28 media regulatory authorities from 27 countries in the French-speaking world. Since 2013, he is a consultant and reseracher on the topic of media pluralism. Since January 2015, he is responsible for the program "Freedom of expression and media regulation" within the Directorate for Political Affairs and Democratic Governance of the International Organization of La Francophonie.

rapporteurs

Allan LEONARD

Editor, FactCheckNI

United Kingdom

Allan Leonard is a Northern Ireland peace journalist and editor of Shared Future News, which reports on peacebuilding in Northern Ireland. He served as managing director at the Northern Ireland Foundation, an independent charity established to promote peace and reconciliation, where he also gained international experience supporting programmes in other divided societies. His professional background includes project and staff management, fundraising, and marketing and communication. Allan is co-founder and editor-in-chief at FactCheckNI, Northern Ireland's first dedicated fact-checking service.