#RwandaDecides: Three things Africa Check is learning about facts, elections, and journalism in Rwanda
It's not every day that media players in Rwanda seek out Africa Check's expertise to help them do hard-nosed fact-checking journalism, especially with the elections around the corner.
But that changed in June 2024- just over a month to Rwanda's elections and five years after Africa Check last conducted an in-person workshop in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, for the country's journalists, media practitioners, and civil society.
First, we invited senior editors and media development organisations from Rwanda to Nairobi for a session about dealing with false information, especially political disinformation around elections. We squeezed in a brief benchmarking tour of Fumbua - the ground-breaking collaborative community for information integrity at the Baraza Media Lab.
Fumbua was a response to the runaway political disinformation in Kenya around election time, and it brought together fact-checkers, journalists, media outlets, influencers, podcasters, cartoonists, essayists, technologists, social media platforms, technology companies, government officials, and activists. We all worked towards a hygienic information environment. The coalition made more people aware of the evolving tactics in spreading election disinformation, including state-sponsored influence campaigns.
As one of the lead organisations in Fumbua, Africa Check's goal for the June 2024 session with Rwandan editors and media practitioners was to try and replicate the model in Rwanda.
Would Rwandan media outlets and journalists work together to provide reliable information during these elections?
Here's what we learned.
1. Context is (still) king
Felly Kimenyi is the managing editor of The New Times, the mainstream english-language media house in Rwanda. When he came to Nairobi, he told me that fact-checking was a timely public good that needed to be done at scale in Rwanda, given the flood of false information "permeating through[out the country in] both new and traditional media".
"Quite often, we see wrong information written about Rwanda including by some of the most respected media houses. And because they have a much wider reach, their reports are taken for truth," Kimenyi told me after we met in Kigali.
"It will, therefore be interesting to see if we can subject some of these reports to globally accredited fact-checking standards," he said.
Some Rwandan analysts see their country as unfairly targeted for negative publicity in foreign media, mainly due to ignorance of foreign outlets about their (Rwandans') lived reality, or what may look like plain malice.
I also spoke with Edmund Kagire, an editor and journalist, who is also a board member of the Rwanda Media Commission, the media regulator. Kagire said elections were just a launchpad for long-term fact-checking.
"We will begin with elections and expand to other important topics such as health, environment, the economy, and climate change, giving reliable information to fuel sustainable development," Kagire said.
Kagire was on Royal FM, a Kigali-based radio station, where he explained that "fact-checking is not criticism". It is a conversation with public figures and audiences about the value of credible and accurate information in decision-making. Picking and choosing leaders is one of the biggest decisions that citizens make about their country and their future.
In short, the will to do fact-checking is there; the use-case for the tools, skills and knowledge that we showcased also exists; and, the journalists want to do it for their audiences, their communities, and for Rwanda. They know their context much better than we ever will. I can't wait to see what they do with the knowledge and what that will look like.
2. Skills, knowledge and tools matter
In the session in Nairobi, we demonstrated how Africa Check uses a wide array of open-source tools, including some fine tips and tricks from Google News Initiative, to verify information and hold public figures accountable. We also spoke about what we have learned covering elections in Africa.
The Rwandan team asked us to do an in-person practical training. In ten days, we worked with our partner Paxpress Rwanda, a media development organisation, to put together a hands-on fact-checking workshop and digital literacy clinic.
We had hoped to use a Rwandan trainer, but it got complicated. Nonetheless, I flew to Rwanda for a two-day immersive hands-on workshop with 31 journalists from 26 media outlets -print, radio, television, and digital platforms.
"One of the primary issues [we] face is finding trainers who are not only conversant but also equipped with advanced knowledge in fact-checking," Emmanuel Habumuremyi, the executive secretary of the Association of Rwandan Journalists (ARJ) told me after we met in Kigali.
Emmanuel said the dynamism in the peddling of false information meant that journalists needed to evolve and find better ways and tools.
"There is limited knowledge among journalists about the existing tools for fact-checking and how to effectively use them. Fact-checking tools are continually evolving, and staying abreast of these changes is essential," he said.
He noted that ARJ's priority was "bridging this knowledge gap by providing hands-on training and resources that can help journalists become proficient in using these tools.
3. Focus on a hygienic information ecosystem beyond elections
In every country where Africa Check delivers its immersive two-day workshop, we often ask participants to show up with a computer, so that they can practice everything that we demonstrate competently.
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We also ask: "What do you want to learn today?"
When I put this question to a roomful of 31 journalists on the morning of 20 June, some of the expectations were surprising:
- To understand deep fakes, shallow fakes, and content fabrication -their creation, intentions and strategy for spreading false information
- How to verify images and videos
- Geolocation and crowd estimation for political rallies
- How to determine if video footage is generated through artificial intelligence
- How to quickly disrupt the flow of false information at scale
- How to form and run a credible fact-checking organisation
The detail sought needed more time, but there's nothing complicated that can't be explained in one minute. We tried to meet all these expectations - we have access to most of the tools and answers.
Yes, the workshop was really a primer. We will work towards having more such workshops for Rwandan media and civil society.
As Albert Baudouin Twizeyimana, the national coordinator of Paxpress, told me, forming an information integrity coalition was an obvious decision.
"There's a lot of misinformation and disinformation that comes out during the election period. PAX PRESS has been working in media development in Rwanda, and from that experience, we know that we must work with journalists, editors and other players in the information ecosystem to amplify accurate information, debunk falsehoods, and give people reliable information," Twizeyimana said.
