Focus

Hundreds of journalists from around the world France to discuss disinformation

Some 300 journalists from around forty countries are in Paris until 13 July for the "Media and Development Forum" organised by CFI, in partnership with RFI. Fact-checkers rely on a vast network of journalists specializing in disinformation and education.

Journalists from all over the world met in Paris to discuss the fight against disinformation. © Photo by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Text by: Nicolas Feldmann Follow

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They came from all over the world to share their experiences and discuss the challenges ahead. In the Salle du Comet in Paris, fact-checkers from Africtivistes, AfricaCheck, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) are present.

The African continent is in the crosshairs of fact-checkers, convinced that this year will be very important in terms of the need to fight disinformation. "The African continent is preparing to enter this year in an electoral marathon, with, if we also count the local elections, about twenty polls," notes Nina Lamparski in charge of digital investigation to AFP. Experience has shown that these periods are ripe for the proliferation of fake news. ».

See alsoAfrica Check, the verification of information for mission

This is the case in the DRC, where people vote in December for the presidential election. "We can already see that the bases of the various political actors are mobilized," explains Ange Kasongo, founder of the fact-checking site Balobaki Check. It is a battle of information or rather disinformation ».+

« Adding value to the narrative » 

Balobaki Check has a team of ten journalists in the DRC tasked with tracking fake news. In June, for example, the site spotted on Twitter the video of a Congolese Internet user who evokes an uprising in the DRC to denounce the arrest of an opponent of President Felix Tshisekedi. While demonstrations did take place in Kindu, in the province of Maniema, the images were actually shot in Senegal.

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On this manifestation, there are clues such as images or the environment. For example, we see a bank, but if we do research, we notice that this bank does not exist in the DRC, "decrypts Ange Kasongo. To build people's confidence, you have to be able to say: it's wrong, we went to check. It has to add value to the narrative."

To then disseminate its work and reach a wider audience, Balobaki Check partners with traditional media. "We transform the content of the blog into a podcast, we explain how we managed to dismantle fake news, to find the right information, says Ange Kasongo, On then shares our work with community radios in the four national languages: Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba and Swahili to reach a larger part of the population."

United we stand, divided we fall

In Africa, AFP Factuel has thirteen journalists dedicated to flushing out fake news on the continent. But the news agency also relies on a vast network of fact-checkers. "There is so much misinformation that collaboration is essential," says Lamparski, who regularly reports working with local journalists specializing in fake news. For example, Africa Check, one of the strengths they have: they have much more access than us to local media, they work in languages in which we do not work.

But all the actors gathered in Paris are convinced: the battle against disinformation will only be won through education. AFP provides free training to journalists and students. "We must go further," explains Nina Lamparski, "go to schools, integrate a disinformation module in primary schools to talk to the youngest who are all connected. There is really a mission: we must talk to the younger generations and those who train them to prevent it from getting worse."

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