Sharjah workshop highlights best media practices in the age of social media

Interactive sessions focussed on strategies that can help media counter fake news

Three interactive workshops held in recently in Sharjah turned the spotlight on strategies that can help the media counter fake news and effectively communicate with the public in the age of social media.

Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), the workshops were conducted as part of the first Sharjah Events Festival.

The first workshop session titled ‘Media Reporting: Social Media Platforms’ addressed the impact of social media on speeding up the transfer of information and news and their role in reshaping contemporary lifestyles.

It discussed the volume of content that is exchanged every second around the world via social media, including photos, videos, posts, and news, and emphasised that social media has now emerged as a powerful communication medium.

The second workshop, titled ‘The Fundamentals of Media Work’, highlighted the standards that every media professional must strive for, including providing verified and accurate information in news stories; maintaining objectivity and neutrality in reporting; and using simple and clear language when addressing the public.

The workshop also emphasised the need to refrain from the use of technical terms, slangs, while paying close attention to the rules of grammar and semantics.

The third workshop, titled ‘Skills of Fact-checking Social Media Information’, provided a comprehensive insight into the tips and techniques to be developed to avoid falling prey to misleading news and false information circulated on social media platforms.

The workshop emphasised the need to get the right information from the chief source, and to rely only on verified and official accounts. Experts also said reporters must fact-check with entities and representatives before sharing any information on the Internet, and conduct an extensive research on each piece of information or news before publishing it.