Media Academy for Journalism and Communication -MAJaC with funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO Dakar, commenced a 3-day training in Advanced Fact-Checking and verification for 25 Journalists including community radio staff.

The training is part of a one-year project that the Academy is implementing which seeks to boost the operational capacity of FactCheck Gambia. Trainees will learn the practical aspect of digital verification of images and videos, accountability journalism among other thematic areas of fact-checking and will further prepare you to participate in the reporting grant that the Academy will roll-out soon.

Meita Touray the Project Manager, said fact-checking is a complex area in media work which requires skills to unravel truth from falsehood and misleading information. She said politicians, religious leader and those in authority tend to use the media in their quest to mislead the public. This she added can lead to serious consequences like tension and division in a country.

“The role of journalists is crucial in disseminating accurate information to the public. Journalists must expose “fake news” regardless of where it emanates from. This is what MAJaC and UNESCO seek to promote by continually training journalists in fact-checking through projects and reporting grants to keep fact-checking alive in The Gambia,” she said.

 Ngenarr Yassin Jeng, represented UNESCO Dakar office highlighted the numerous works that UNESCO has done in supporting Journalists and Civil society in the Gambia. She reiterated UNESCO’s unwavering support to promoting Democracy and Good Governance in the Gambia.

James Badjie MAJaC's Director of Training reiterated the importance of reporting accurate and reliable information, citing that misinformation/disinformation and even mal-information proliferates with disturbing speed, making the pursuit of truth morally imperative.

Sainey Fofana, a participant, working for Soma Community Radio, said the training will help in his daily work as community radio journalist. “The training will help to detect and counter fake news by verifying information using the tools I will learn from this training.

“Community Media plays an important role in information dissemination and I am excited to be part of this training. I will use the knowledge gained to verify and report accurately on stories of interest to my community.”

After this training, participants and other journalists would participate in fact-check reporting grant to enable them report fact-check stories.