The Department of Arabic Language and Media at the Arab American University organized a training workshop for its students on mechanisms for verifying information, presented by the founder and director of the Palestinian Observatory “Tahaqaq” journalist Baker Abdel Haq, via the “Zoom” platform.
The head of the department, Mr. Sudqi Mousa, stated that this workshop comes as part of activities organized by the department for its students with the aim of training them on important skills in their professional lives. He explained that mechanisms for verifying information are among the most important skills that a journalist must possess for several reasons, including that s/he should not be prey to misleading information in light of the massive content published on social media, which increases the difficulty of the verification process.
In turn, journalist Baker Abdel Haq pointed out that modern technology has made manipulating and manufacturing content simple, and misleading information includes various aspects of life, whether related to politics, health, elections, etc., and this type of information poses a danger through obliterating the truth, distorting and manipulating content.
Abdel Haq reviewed the Observatory’s efforts to combat misleading and false information, educate users about the danger of such information, its impact on society and individuals, the work policy adopted by the Observatory, and the tools that are relied upon to detect and refute misinformation.
The workshop included a presentation of examples of misleading content, during which journalist Abdul Haq applied verification skills and technical tools used for that sake.
