Journalists and fact-checkers were invited to participate in an online training course “Learning to Counter Disinformation”, offered by The Reckoning Project (TRP), an international initiative dedicated to documenting war crimes, and Media Diversity Institute (MDI).
The course, in July and August, offered an opportunity to both learn about documenting and reporting on war crimes, with an emphasis on identifying and combating disinformation, and put it into practice.
Ten people joined the training, with two selected as trainers for trainers, enabling activities to continue in the future with greater expertise in the field.
The training offered participants an opportunity to:
- Examine specific cases of war crimes and violations of international law
- Learn how to identify false information
- Analyse the language, structure, and key characteristics of disinformation content
The training was open to journalists and fact-checkers from Eastern and Central Europe, the Balkans, and the South Caucasus.
Training manual
A training manual was produced by MDI and TRP as part of the training course. It can be used separately and will also be used in future trainings. The training manual can be found here.
Format
The online course consisted of approximately 16 hours of predominantly practical work delivered over four days and was designed for a small group of participants. Journalists were selected through a competitive application process.
The Reckoning Project provided training materials, including legal and policy documents, practical case studies, and expert insights developed through the project’s work. These resources aimed to help participants more effectively identify disinformation and counter its spread.
MDI provided its practical expertise in conflict reporting, prebunking and debunking disinformation.
The training was in English.
Practical Component
During the training, each participant was required to produce two media pieces, which could include multimedia and SMM posts, to be published in their home country’s media landscape. The best will be nominated for prestigious international journalism awards. The pieces will focus on disinformation related to war crimes and accountability processes, including:
- “Evacuation” as a misleading term used to describe forced displacement and deportation;
- filtration as a mechanism of control rather than merely a checkpoint procedure;
- occupation-era education and the erasure of identity;
- children’s camps and narratives of “recreation” or “medical treatment”;
- the laundering of propaganda through child protection systems, media outlets, and guardianship and adoption mechanisms;
- the use of winter as a weapon;
- attacks on evacuation infrastructure.
