By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) has ended a two-day training for fact checkers in the implementation of the Countering Disinformation and Hate Speech project during and after the June 24 2023 elections.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the training on Tuesday 9th May at the Civil Service Training College in Freetown, the NDI Country Director Mohamed Konneh said the project is funded by Global Affairs Canada through the NDI. He urged participants to make good use of the resource persons of the training, emphasizing that the project is implemented by SLAJ and that it is the Media Group’s responsibility to ensure it succeeds. He added that it is a regional project that is implemented in three countries-Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
“I know that we are not competing against the other countries but I also believe in healthy competition. So I want the project in Sierra Leone to produce the best result. Let it be known that this project contributed to countering disinformation in Sierra Leone,” he said.
The Director also urged the project team to exhibit professionalism and fairness in their investigations to ensure a credible outcome.
In his statement, the President of SLAJ Ahmed Sahid Nasralla urged the participants to take advantage of the training sessions and topics to add to their existing knowledge on fact-checking.
He also encouraged them to own the process, saying that it is in the interest of Sierra Leone as fake and misleading information flooding the social space has become alarming and threatening. He noted that the activities of the project period will span from before, during, and after the country’s fourth multitier elections and that the SLAJ headquarters will host a Super Newsroom to verify various contents for dissemination.
The two-day training sessions were facilitated by Rehobot Ayalew an Ethiopian fact checker alongside Sierra Leone’s Yeama Thomson and the NDI team in Washington DC. who engaged the participants virtually on advanced fact-checking techniques.
The training brought together participants from across the country.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (12/05/23)
