Africa Check

 

                     Africa Check

           

Misinformation and fake news have been one of the most common threads to the society from getting real news, facts, and the spreading of false information has become popular mostly on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

One organization that aims to help sort out facts from fictions is Africa Check, its aim is to interrogate the best available evidence and publish fact checking reports that will guide public debate.

“A key goal for Africa Check is to foster and support a community of nonpartisan fact-checkers across the continent.”

Carina Van Wyk one of the journalist who work for Africa check was addressing Tshwane University of Technology journalism student the 1^st and 2^nd years on what Africa check is all about, she stated when it comes to fact checking they follow steps such as, select the claim to check, confirm what was said, ask for evidence, check the most recent reliable data, discuss the evidence with experts, write up the report, have a colleague review the report, and its findings, publish, and monitor the feedback and impact. They follow these steps on every report they produce.

She further stated that opinions cannot be fact checked as they reflect people’s opinions whereas claims can be fact checked. When it comes to verifying videos and images one must consider checking when was the video taken, where it was taken and what really happened in the video or image you are about to use. This also applies to when you receive information you must ask yourself questions like Who wrote it? Can I verify the claims? Does the information make you feel happy, scared, or angry? Does it contain shocking pictures, video, or audio? Am I sure it’s not a hoax.