A group working on “regulating digital media”, headed by Narjiss Reghay, member of the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication in Morocco, has issued a “Guide to encounter misinformation: references, tools, practices.”
The main chapters of the guide discuss the dismantling of fake news and fact-checking, the top priorities of the regulation authority.
“Despite the development of fact-checking methods in the time of digital transformation and enhanced citizenship, we only need one thing: raising awareness for the critical consumption of news, because fake news and misinformation are threatening the delivery of real news based on confirmed events and trustworthy sources. The unlimited potentials of internet users, who have become a major source of news, cannot be fully trusted and may affect democracy,” Reghay said.
But what does she mean by “fake news”? What does news manipulation hide? How it can be detected and what are the methods used for this purpose?
This guide is aimed at answering those questions by giving the reader a closer look at the fake news making process, in addition to explaining the legal measures currently adopted in Morocco to fight this practice.
The guide includes real life examples, including the fake news that circulated in the country during the coronavirus pandemic, and the Moroccan public elections in September 2021.
Although verification is not the magic solution for fake news, rumors, and conspiracy theories, it’s still the most effective method to fact-check news we read online. For this purpose, the guide demonstrates how fake news is dismantled, and provides a brief lexicon that helps distinguish misinformation and fake material.
The guide, released in Arabic, French, and Amazigh, includes recommendations that help fight fake news, through the creation of databases and apps, in order to advance the fact-checking process on the institutional level. It also includes fact-checking methods – especially of online news – in curricula of journalism courses.
