How well is your newsroom checking its social media sources?
Join Eoghan Sweeney, head of training at First Draft, the global journalists verification network to learn about the latest techniques for verifying social media sources
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Jamlab, in partnership with Africa Check, will be hosting a roundtable on the latest techniques and approaches to verifying social media sources.
We are delighted to be hosting Eoghan Sweeney, global training director of First Draft News, a global network of news organisations, online platforms and researchers working on verification.
As Sunday Times Editor, Bongani Siqoko wrote recently in his apology for previous errors in reporting the SARS ‘rogue unit’ and the Cato Manor deaths: “As journalists we have our own verification tools and we should have used them better — after all, journalism is nothing more than the discipline of verification,” . Doing this with social media sources — sources who we haven't met and may not even be people — poses real challenges for newsrooms across the world.
The BBC’s Africa Eye’s team’s recent verification of a video of soldiers shooting children is a great example of careful checking of social media sources. But doing this well requires skills, access to online tools and persistence.
This roundtable will be an opportunity to share and learn more about international insights on verification of social media sources and discuss ways newsrooms can improve practice and foster greater commitment in South Africa. Don’t miss it!
Join us
When: Thursday, 1 November 2018
Where: Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, 42 Juta Street, Braamfontein
Time: 16:00–18:00
To RSVP please click here
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