Independent
fact-checking organisation Africa Check on Wednesday launches a range of new
training, research and fact-checking services aimed at improving accuracy,
accountability and transparency in Africa’s media, commercial and non-profit
sectors.
“Our
editorial division is focused on promoting accuracy in public debate; raising
the quality of information available to the public” said Africa Check’s
director, Peter Cunliffe-Jones.
“But
getting your facts straight is vital in all parts of society – not just for
public figures. The same principles hold true whether you’re an individual, a
newspaper, a non-profit organisation or a multi-national corporation. And that
is why we are launching these new services,” he added.
Africa
Check, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation which launched in 2012, is the
leading fact-checking agency in the continent. Since it was set up it has
exposed numerous misleading claims from hoaxes around Boko Haram in Nigeria to
fake cures for Ebola and HIV in west and southern Africa. The organisation’s
work has won awards and been profiled in The New York Times, the UK’s The
Guardian and The Economist, among other publications.
The
training, research and information division – Africa Check TRiFacts – will be
headed by veteran South African journalist and author Nechama Brodie; herself a
regular contributor to Africa Check.
Brodie
says Africa Check TRiFacts is the perfect way for Africa Check to help
companies, non-profit organisations and the media raise their game and – at the
same time – to entrench the importance of facts in all aspects of public life.
“These
days, everyone is part of the news cycle but much of what is circulated is
based on false information or poor research. At the same time, the internet has
given us incredible tools and techniques to use to check what we report, what
we claim. And that is what we aim to train people in media and communication to
be able to do.
“We
also know that research presents challenges for businesses, the media and
non-profit organisations. Good data is often hard to come by, but decisions
based on poor research are generally poor decisions. By offering a
research-on-demand service, we hope to help fill the knowledge and the skills
gap.”
Contact
information
To
learn more about the services launched today, please visit the Africa Check
website and go to: www.africacheck.org/services/a
About
Africa Check
Africa
Check is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organisation, set up in 2012
by the AFP Foundation, the non-profit media training arm of the AFP news
agency, in a partnership with the School of Journalism at the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
This Press statement was issued by the Nairobi-based African Media Initiative
This Press statement was issued by the Nairobi-based African Media Initiative
