ICFJ to train Journalists from Africa on Disinformation and Fact-Checking
Date: 2022-11-15
Selected
journalists from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, and Uganda will receive hands-on training on disinformation and fact-checking tomorrow, Wednesday, 16th November 2022, at the ICFJ Africa Regional Disinformation Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
Organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) with support from the US State Department's Africa Regional Services (ARS), the workshop and conference on disinformation and fact-checking is aimed at assisting journalists from the African continent to learn vital fact-checking skills that could aid them in the journalistic work.
Facilitating the three-day training workshop and conference will be the Senior Correspondent for PolitiFact, Jon Greenburg, and the Kenya Editor for Africa Check, Alphonce Shiundu.
Mr.Greenburg is a renowned fact-checker and happened to be part of the PolitiFact team during the 2012 US presidential elections and was one of the fact-checkers who launched PunditFact in 2013
He has also worked as executive editor with the New Hampshire Public Radio and Washington reporter for National Public Radio, with many awards under his sleeves.
Kenya Editor for Africa Check Alphonce Shiundu has eleven years of experience in political, legislative, and development journalism, with four years at the supervisory level.
The current editor of Africa's leading independent fact-checking organization, Mr. Shiundu, is gifted with excellent verbal and written communication skills and is deeply knowledgeable and passionate about journalism and the media in East Africa and Africa.
The three-day workshop and conference form part of ICFJ's commitment to support and amplify innovative strategies that can be used to combat dangerous falsehoods since it believes that disinformation is a rampant problem and can have terrible, even deadly, consequences.
This has led ICFJ to initiate a three-year global program supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation to invest $3.8 million in solutions that effectively push back against disinformation.
By: Kanto Okanta
