The Arab Center for Radio and Radio Training holds a course on line about detecting the false news

The Arab Center for Radio and Radio Training in Damascus held an on line workshop entitled “Combating False and Misleading Strategies for Pandemics (Covid 19 Model)”

The course was by remote training from Dubai, by journalist Mahmoud Ghazayel.A group of Arab journalists from various Arab countries participated in it.

The trainer began with the different types of fake news, including cynical, misleading, fabricated, or news related false links. He also presented during the course a set of methods and applications that help to detect false news and how to deal with it.

The trainer also showed the trainees photos and videos to reveal their validity or falsehood as part of the practical training.

Ghazayel also referred to the types of individual initiatives at the Arab level in combating false news, especially about Corona currently.He stressed that fake, misleading and over-interpreted health news in social media is the potential threat for public health.

Some initiatives rely on the interaction of individuals by drawing the attention of verification platforms to false news. Other initiatives rely on the efforts of some individuals, who have technical and journalistic skills, to combat false news on their pages.

Professor Taleb Amin, “Director of the Radio and TV Training Center” confirmed to the Syria Times that we are facing a real problem. News is transmitted widely without confirmation of wether it is real or false. So it causes a negative reflection on all levels.

In another context, Amin added that the center holds courses to raise the level of professional qualification for all Arab media professionals, noting that this session is very important at the present time to counter false news in general and false news about the Corona virus.

Amin pointed out  for the need of  on line training and its importance because the conditions of war before and now the spread of the Coronavirus prevent the center  from organizing courses inside it.

Therefore, the center relied on organizing on line courses and adopted the Zoom app, which has many features, so the trainer can communicate and interact with all trainees through sound and image.

Reported by: Sanaa Hasan