The latest fact checkers from the Littoral, Centre and the English-speaking regions were drilled during a three-day workshop on Fact-Checking and Data-Camp, organised by ADISI, Cameroon in collaboration with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
Taking place at a time when internet platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter are fast being used to spread misinformation and disinformation, the Douala workshop highlighted that in order to debunk fake news, the use of “INVID” on the advanced search option google was imperative during the fact checking process.
The seminar which held from July 22 to 24 in Yassa on the outskirts of the economical capital, had as main facilitator, Samba Badji Dialimpa, Editor-in-Chief of the Francophone section of Africa Check in Dakar, Senegal who stated that fact checking is about putting the facts rightly.
“We do not have accurate facts, we can’t question how decision makers are taking the decision, on which bases they are taking the decisions and if there is no accuracy in the public debate. I think that the population could be lost in the debate”, he emphasized.
Unlike investigative journalism which he noted is mainly about revealing something hidden, Badji said “but when it concerns the work methodology, we share the same techniques because we need to verify everything to see if what we are about to use as data is accurate, not misleading and the difference again is on the topic of the work”.
“The first step in fact checking is to question and find evidence. By questioning, we try to find out if there are any evidence on the claims made or on the figures that are published by public personalities”, he added.
The Senegalese, who dropped his closed to 15years journalism practice, drilled the over 15 participants on the objective of fact checking as not a means to convince their audience but for them to verify the truth themselves. According to him, journalists must avoid the use of anonymous sources when on a fact checking assignment.
While promising his unflinching support to the new batch of fact checkers, he echoed that one of the main goals of Africa Check is to build a very strong network of fact checkers in the continent.
“We are trying to do it step-by-step. Now we have some members coming from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Nigeria and we hope maybe that next year we have other fact checkers coming from Cameroon. So, my hope is that after this training, some of the journalists who were in this workshop will try to set up a new platform of fact checking or a platform section within the newsroom because we have those two options”, he reiterated.
On his part, the Executive Director of ADISI, Cameroon, Paul Joel Kamtchang, said he was very satisfied but will be more contented after the training when the participants start making good use of the techniques acquired.
ADISI, Cameroon, a Douala-based NGO, created seven years ago, he disclosed is geared towards creating a conducive environment that will permit journalists to have good information.
“So it can be easy for journalists to work and to obtain information that they like to obtain to do their work”.
Also triggered by the viral content of data circulating on social media networks where videos, audios and images keep manipulating and disappointing the populations in the English-speaking regions and elsewhere, Kamtchang encouraged the journalists to make effective use with the newly gotten techniques.
To one of the participants, Marie-Louise Mange, the Fact Checking and Data Camp workshop has permitted her to know how to provide the public with reliable information.
According to the Douala based journalist practicing with ADISI, Cameroon, she has acquired the necessary elements in order to effectively carryout her job on the field.
“You takeout time to verify, confirm the sources before putting it at the disposition of the public”.
To Linda Atangana, a freelance journalist based in Yaoundé, after the three-day workshop, she is now conscious and very curious with the type of information she will start dishing out to the public.
“I have received good training which will permit me to excel in my profession because it makes me to be a bit more curious and careful with the information I receive because we had a poor attitude of reading things and taking them into consideration without fact checking. With this training, I will take more time to analyse the information on first view before letting it out to the public”, she noted.
Aside this fact checking workshop, ADISI has organised several workshops particularly in the areas of freedom of speech and as well trained some organizations in the South-West and North-West on how to be able to build a mechanism to access information during crises period like the case of the Anglophone crisis.