Combatting Mis- and Disinformation: How High-Quality Journalism Strengthens the Web and Wikipedia
THURSDAY, JUNE 23
4:00 PM GMT / 11:00 AM EST
This one-hour webinar is part of the Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards, presented by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation. This initiative recognizes African journalists whose reporting helps close knowledge gaps about Africa on Wikipedia.
A journalist's work can end up shaping the knowledge of a topic for millions of people, far beyond the original outlet's reach, if their piece is cited in a Wikipedia article. Wikipedia's over 250,000 volunteer editors (also known as Wikipedians) draw on evidence-based reporting to build millions of articles in over 300 languages, and from there the reach only grows: those articles get surfaced by search engines directing millions of readers to the site, and are increasingly used by AI tools to answer everyday questions. What starts as a single article can become part of our global online knowledge ecosystem.
Journalists and Wikipedians are essential partners in building a more complete global knowledge base that is more reflective of the topics, events and people that influence the understanding of culture and history through the ages.
This online session for African journalists led by Wikimedia Foundation’s Knowledge Integrity Strategy Lead Costanza Sciubba Caniglia will cover:
How Wikipedia helps journalists in promoting reliable information in an age of online mis- and disinformation
How journalists can produce content to contribute to Wikipedia articles, especially to help close knowledge gaps of underreported topics
How Wikipedia works, including how volunteers create the information and systems to protect knowledge integrity on the platform
The value of human verified knowledge sources in the age of AI and how Wikipedia maintains reliable, unbiased information online
Learn more about the Awards here.
Read Costanza Sciubba Caniglia's bio here.