The Union of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) News Agencies (UNA) held Tuesday a virtual workshop on "How to Apply Verification Principles to News Coverage" in cooperation with the international video news agency, Ruptly, and with the participation of more than 500 media professionals from the OIC member states.
At the outset of the workshop, UNA acting Director General Mohammed Abd Rabbo Al-Yami stressed that fake news is one of the most dangerous phenomena that threatens public confidence in the media, especially amid the widespread use of social media, which many people around the world rely on to access or verify news.
"The challenge has now become greater for journalists with the rapid development in the techniques of fabricating content and media disinformation, as studies indicate that fake news has turned into an industry of its own with writers and editors hired to create fake stories to increase views [and] site traffic."
Hence, he added, the importance of verifying media content, determining its credibility and background, and identifying the necessary skills and applications required for these processes to maintain our credibility and avoid falling into the trap of fake content.
Al-Yami thanked the Ruptly agency for its fruitful cooperation with UNA and its keenness to share its experiences in videos and journalistic investigation with media professionals in Islamic countries.
For her part, the advisor of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia - the Islamic World,” Anna Belikova, indicated that the workshop comes within the framework of cooperation between UNA and international media institutions.
She praised UNA's effective participation in several prominent conferences held in Russia, such as the "Kazan Forum 2023" last May, during which the union organized, in cooperation with Tatmedia agency, an extended media session entitled "Russia - the Islamic World: Media Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Economic Prosperity."
Belikova also noted UNA's contribution to organizing several media forums that brought together leaders of international media, including the conference “Russia - the Islamic World: Practical Steps in Media Cooperation,” held in Moscow last December.
Ruptly CEO Dinara Toktosunova stressed that accuracy had been an essential element in the agency's work since its first day, indicating that Ruptly has developed different tools to verify the photos and videos it receives, especially from social-media sources.
She pointed out that the agency has a special verification unit that has enabled it to avoid mistakes for years, indicating that Ruptly is happy to share its verification tools and skills with its partners and clients.
The head of the Ruptly Verification Unit, Marie Sakellariou, gave a comprehensive presentation on the mechanisms and skills of verification and media content validation.
With this presentation's help, the workshop participants were able to identify verification processes in newsrooms and learn about the basic work that must be done before publishing and distributing video content.
The participants were also introduced to the tools and sources that can be used to verify the authenticity of photos and videos and whether they belong to their stated location and date.
Under the instruction of Sakellariou, participants in the workshop carried out practical training during which they were able to identify video locations, their accuracy, and whether there were duplicates using online tools.
The workshop comes within the framework of the training programs offered by the Union of OIC News Agencies for the benefit of media professionals in the OIC member states.
UNA and Ruptly signed a memorandum of cooperation last December in Moscow on the sidelines of the "Russia-Islamic World: Practical Steps in Media Cooperation" conference.
Source: Saudi Press Agency
