Askanwi Conducts First in House Training on FactChecking

By Fatoumata Jaiteh

Fact Space West Africa also known as Ghana Fact conducted a two-day training for Askanwi Media on Fact Checking from 30th to 1st October 2024. Askanwi is a newly established Gambian media house with the motto pioneering citizen journalism for National interest.

The online training which was attended by seven journalist strengthened the capacity of journalist on factchecking. "Factchecks are articles published, verifying if a certain claim, statement or promise made by the people in authority is factual or not".

In today’s world of misinformation, disinfomation and malinformation, this training will enable Askanwi Journalists to separate fact from fiction. Having been established for only two months, Askanwi currently boasts a library of FactChecks, FactSheets, Promise Trackers and Investigations which the public can read on the Asaknwi website and on FactCheckGambia.org.

FactChecks and FactSheets - https://www.askanwi.com/factchecks

PromiseTrackers and Investigations - https://www.askanwi.com/promise-trackers

The experts who delivered the training, Ghana fact were established in 2019 and their website reveals that "Ghana Fact seeks to target and correct the spread of false or misleading claims or statements on social networks, messaging platforms and in public discourse".

Askanwi Editor Yusef Taylor, highlighted that the training aims to equip its journalist with the necessary knowledge and capacity to achieve the highest journalism standards. "We constantly try to upgrade our reporters through trainings and this training is one of many trainings we want to take place in the future," said Taylor.

Recently, Askanwi published a Factcheck on the Gambia Revenue Authority’s claim that his institution did not observe any tax increase for the year 2024 which proves that tax increases were indeed included in the 2024 Budget Speech and on the Gazette of Revenue Measures for 2024.

One of the journalists who participated in the training, Haddy Ceesay, noted that this was her first structured FactCheck Training and that she learned some new techniques of FactChecking using online digital tools and other advanced techniques. She added that the training helped her to better understand the stories that should be factchecked especially as misinformation is constantly being published in conventional and new media as well as on social media.

Another trainee, Edward Francis Dalliah who had undergone a FactCheck training prior to this one noted that the training served as a timely refresher of what he had learned from the previous training and that “it opened the door for [him] to learn new techniques on factchecking".