The Strategic Communication stream, convened by Dr. Bimbo Fafowora from Rhodes University, organised a one-hour webinar titled “A Step-by-Step Guide to Verifying Online Information”. The webinar was held on Wednesday, 23 October 2024 and was facilitated by Ms Carina van Wyk, the Head of Education and Training at Africa Check – the continent’s first fact-checking organisation. Carina’s background encompasses a range of roles in training, content development, and media. Prior to joining Africa Check, Carina had worked with prominent media outlets in South Africa, including News24, eNCA, and the SABC. Specifically, she has extensive experience in journalism, fact-checking, digital literacy, online information verification and safety, as well as content development.
The aim of the webinar was to raise further awareness about misinformation dissemination and verification across digital platforms. The webinar featured a step-by-step breakdown of how to verify or debunk online content, using examples from Africa Check. During the webinar, participants were given practical lessons on how to verify the accuracy of information found online. Carina taught participants how to critically assess information online, including text, images, and videos. She also taught them how to establish the origin of images and videos using online verification and geolocation tools, and to identify AI-generated visuals.
The session was interactive, with participants given a hands-on experience of what it is like to be a fact-checker.
The target audience for the webinar was students and lecturers in journalism and communication studies, as well as media practitioners and digital literacy enthusiasts, specifically in South Africa and, by extension, Africa. About 174 people from academic institutions and media organisations registered for the conference. Out of this, 45 people attended, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Some of the participants expressed the desire to see SACOMM organise more of such training in the future.