Activity Presentation

Objectives:

– Allow participants to apply the journalistic fact-checking approach.

– Evaluate the quality and relevance of information.

– Question the difficulty of obtaining clear information on certain topics.

Participants will be placed in groups on computers and will have several pieces of information to verify. Some topics must be prepared in advance to know their veracity or not, but the goal is to let them discover this by themselves.

Verification may involve several types of information, from the simplest — such as the date of an event, the content of a law, or the outcome of a football match — to the more complex. For example, establishing the number of unemployed in Kosovo requires stopping at a definition of unemployment (which varies depending on the organizations).

The aim of this exercise is to give participants the role of “investigator,” “mini-journalist,” and to reinforce a vigilant attitude they should adopt daily on the internet.

Activity Flow

1 – The trainer compiles about ten pieces of information (depending on the number of participants) found on the internet or social media, which can be fake news (debunked since their publication) or real information that can easily be verified. The trainer verifies one piece of information in advance and prepares the correction.

2 – The participants, divided into groups of 2 or 3, draw lots for 2 or 3 pieces of information.

3 – Place participants in groups on computers and give them several pieces of information to verify.

4 – Remind them of the fact-checking approach:

  • What is the nature of the site where the information was found? (check “legal notice” or the “about” section of the site)
  • Is it an international news site, a satirical site, a political blog?
  • Who is the author of the information? A politician, a journalist, an expert, a citizen, an anonymous author? (Do research on this person)
  • What is their objective?
  • Are they trying to scare us, inform us, manipulate us, convince us?
  • Where does the information come from and on what sources/evidence is it based?
  • When was it published?
  • Has the information been published on other sites?
  • Can it be cross-checked, i.e., found elsewhere, on other media?

5 – Group presentations on the fact-checking process, impressions from other groups on the presentation, trainer’s correction.

The Balkan Context

For this activity, refer to the thematic sheets “ Independent Media” on the educational website. This will give the teacher access to numerous pieces of information to verify in order to prepare the exercise.