Adham Center – UNESCO Project 2020
In collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Information Center in Cairo (UNIC), the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, held a series of webinars to address media and journalism challenges of misinformation, trust, and rumors in times of COVID19. The 3-month project brought together experts from the Egyptian and Arab media and journalism industries, academics, and representatives of international organizations directly involved with COVID-19 in order to discuss vital topics based on the UNESCO handbook Journalism, Fake News and Misinformation. The webinars were conducted live via Zoom in Arabic with simultaneous interpretation into English and French, allowing for questions and answers via the chat feature.
The webinars addressed the following topics:
- Truth, Trust and Journalism: Why They Matter in the Time of COVID-19
- Thinking about Disinformation Disorder: Formats of Misinformation and Mal-information
- New Industry Transformation: Digital Technology, Social Media Platforms and the Spread of Disinformation and Misinformation
- Combating Misinformation and Disinformation through Media Information Literacy
- Fact-Checking 101
- Social Media Verification: Addressing Sources and Visual Content
- Ensuring Journalists' Safety When Reporting on COVID-19
- Final Discussion: Developing a Unified Action to Address COVID-19
Hussein Amin, Director of the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism and the project's Principal Investigator, commented on this rich collaboration, “A meaningful project that comes at the right time and with the right partners for the right reasons. When the Adham Center at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP), the American University in Cairo (AUC) collaborates with United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), an immense power of knowledge is created. This power is passed on to hundreds of journalists and media people in the region by offering specialized webinars about combating fake news and misinformation in relation to COVID-19. I have no doubt that it will help the media in the region play a better role in its ongoing challenge to raise awareness of fighting fake news, as well as its constant battle to provide accurate information to defeat a pandemic that is affecting the entire world.”
Following the webinar series, the collaboration with UNESCO concluded with a bilingual e-publication that examined COVID-19 and disinformation-related case studies from Egypt and the Arab world, areas for needed research, as well as policy recommendations.