“Kashif launches the Information Verifiers Network in Palestine.”

The Palestinian Platform for Fact-Checking and Media Literacy – (Kashif) organized a day for information verifiers in Palestine yesterday, June 20, 2023, with the support of the United Nations Development Program and UNESCO related to enhancing freedom of expression by strengthening the role of visual, audio, and social media.

The event was attended by a group of journalists, young activists, and journalism students who participated in training sessions on information verification over the past months.

During the opening session of the day, Hala Tanous, the Communication and Outreach Programs Coordinator at the UNESCO office in Ramallah, stated that UNESCO’s support for combating misinformation falls within its commitment to supporting and developing media and information literacy in Palestine for years.

Riham Abu Aita, the Director of Kashif Observatory, mentioned that this event is a culmination of the observatory’s efforts in partnership with UNESCO and the United Nations Development Program over the past months in building the capacities of journalists, youth, and media students in the field of verification. They hope that the cooperation between the trainees and the observatory continues to promote a culture of verification.

The open day included competitions on information verification within three main topics: the verification lab, the challenge of Hebrew media, and verifying images and videos.

As a result of this meeting, a network of information verifiers was launched in Palestine, serving as an informal platform for exchanging experiences, opportunities, capacity building, and promoting information verification.