Five years of developing fact-checking base in Tanzania
By Daniel Mwingira
- In total, we have been training more than 500 journalists in Tanzania on fact-checking.
- We are proud to establish the first fact-checking platform in the country.
Dar es Salaam. May 4, 2023 will mark five years since Nukta Africa was founded in Tanzania. By that time we will have a lot to celebrate, especially by improving people’s lives through digital and data content.
Today, I will share with you one success, the role of Nukta Africa and its partners in fighting against misinformation and disinformation in the media space in Tanzania for the past five years.
When we look back, we are not just celebrating our achievement but our success in impacting knowledge and skills on fact-checking to the public, media and journalists in Tanzania.
Since we started the fact-checking initiative in Tanzania we have used several approaches and methodologies including training to ensure our community and media space in Tanzania is free from misinformation and disinformation and our media are conversant with emerging media skills and also produce quality content.
Engagement with stakeholders
Our first believer in this evangelization was Code for Africa (CFA) in 2017. CFA believed in our struggles and we collaborated with them to conduct the first fact-checking training in Tanzania.
The training facilitated the establishment of fact-checking desks (Clouds Check) at Clouds Media Group to help the public understand tools and tips for debunking misinformation and disinformation, despite that did not last long.
It was the beginning. In 2018, in partnership with Internews Tanzania, we organized the first training on fact-checking for more than 20 female journalists as part of a pilot study.
Among others, the pilot study was aimed at exploring the need for fact-checking skills to media practitioners in the country and how it can be perpetuated in different media houses.
Training and Mentorship
Since then, we have conducted more than 30 fact-checking training and mentorship in Tanzania with several partners including Internews Tanzania Tanzania Media Foundation(TMF), Code for Africa and UNESCO Tanzania.
So far, more than 500 journalists have been trained and mentored under the flagship of Nukta Africa. Our trainees have become good ambassadors and played a great role in ensuring their audience consumes credible news.
Establishment of Nukta Fakti
Internews Tanzania did not just help us to train journalists and other communication experts but also enabled us to initiate the first fact-checking platform in Tanzania, Nukta Fakti.
The platform disseminated its news through the Nukta Habari website (www.nukta.co.tz), the first data news portal in Tanzania and via social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) by the name of NuktaFakti.
The platform at first aims to debunk misinformation and disinformation on Covid-19 pandemic but currently with more than 16,908 total followers combined in all social media accounts, Nukta Fakti debunks several fake news stories as they are happening online.
As credible and trustworthy, the platform has become a member of Africa Facts Network which is made up of more than 30 organizations from all corners of the continent to share experiences and collaborate to fight against fake news.
Fact-checking desks
Presently, we continue to implement a pilot project on the establishment of fact-checking desks with Internews Tanzania to six nation media houses. These are Azam Media, Uhuru Media Group, Mwananchi Communication Limited, Abood Fm, Hits Fm and Majira newspaper.
By establishing the desks which go together with mentorship, we believe that fact-checking skills will spread to many media houses in Tanzania and save them so as not to be a mouth of misinformation to the public.
Through fact-checking desks, journalists and editors not only debunk misinformation and disinformation but also provide tips to their audience to help them fact-check every information they consume.
E-Learning platform
In 2022, we have partnered with UNESCO Tanzania through the International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC) to conduct a series of training for practicing journalists and editors in fact-checking, multimedia storytelling and data journalism.
Through our partnership with UNESCO Tanzania we have successfully established
an e-learning journalism platform called Kozica (www.kozica.tz). Currently, the platform is in the testing stages for six months.
The platform will provide a chance to journalists to learn free and paid courses like Fact -Checking for the first time in Kiswahili language.
It looks like we have done a lot but to us the work is not yet done. We are continuing to learn and un-learning until we make sure our media houses both online and mainstream media have good and quality content by developing fact-checking skills.
Do you want to join us on a fact-checking journey in Tanzania? Our doors are open to working together in different aspects.
Mr. Daniel Mwingira is a Chief Learning Officer at Nukta Africa. You can reach him through danny@nukta.co.tz or training@nukta.co.tz.
