In modern digitalized world people tend to believe everything that appears on social media. It is a good thing that new means of communication make it easier and faster to spread news, however, there is a disadvantage as well. Sometimes for the sake of operative news delivery even professionals share information without verification. That’s where we need fact-checking.
Ednews reports that fact-checking is the process that is passed to verify whether some statement or fact is actually true. This is the practice, which should be conducted by news rooms, while reporting on some events. However, the recent practice shows that it would be useful to teach some fact-checking methods to the general users of social media. It is understandable even more if explained on an example.
Recently, the Russian Telegram channel "Readovka" released a video about one incident on March 27. The video shows Ukrainian soldiers stopping a car driven by a woman. Approaching the car, the soldier speaks rudely to, insults, and accuses her of violating military laws. Taking her documents, the soldier says her name "Mustafayeva Aida Safarovna". The woman almost crying and trying to calm the soldier irritates him even more. The soldier hits the car with his hand, curses, and shoots in the air.
This video was shared by many Russian websites and even Telegram channels close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. However, after some time, it was deleted. In most posts on social media, Azerbaijanis openly expressed their anger at the Ukrainian soldier's rude actions against the Azerbaijani woman.
The research conducted by one of Azerbaijani fact-checking websites, Faktyoxla.Lab, showed that the video was fake due to certain reasons, including location, car model, and the quality of the footage.
These kinds of fakes are usually disseminated to cause social condemnation and political tensions. While it is obvious that professionals like journalists have to use fact-checking in their work to supply people with accurate and true information. However, the main targets of fake posts and videos are ordinary users of social media, who usually sow their instant reaction without verification. This issue causes a question: Should general social media users be taught fact-checking? Or is it just something that has to be done by journalists?
Almaz Mahmud, PhD, the Head of the Media and Information Literacy Center shared her thoughts on the issue with Ednews:
“Personally, I have come across situations when some journalists sometimes spread the information without checking. If professionals do not do it, it is of course absurd to demand it from non-journalists and ordinary citizens. But it has become clear from the current processes that the need for fact-checking is gradually increasing, and not only for journalists, but for other citizens of Azerbaijan.”
She added that the other harm of fakes and information flow without verification is that this creates negative feelings and anger among society. That’s why people should have some educative and interactive trainings regarding fact-checking.
It should be noted that fact-checking, which is generally the main part of media literacy, is a relatively new term in Azerbaijan. Although some higher and secondary schools created educational programs related to it, there is still a huge need of experts and materials on the matter. Therefore, the field of fact-checking is still at the stage of development in Azerbaijan.
Gulnara Rahimova
