Six Steps for Fact Checking Citizen Media
Anyone can be a publisher today – thanks to the web. As a result, there are so many more sources of news and information, which makes fact checking all the more critical in fast moving news stories. When disinformation gets into the news cycle, it can lead to people being put in harm’s way. Here, then, is a set of six tips to help you get it right. 1. Who is the original source? Every piece of news has a source – the person who told you the news. Who... Read The Rest →
Meedan wins International Press Instiitute News Innovation Contest 2012
Meedan Checkdesk, a platform facilitating collaborative journalism for Middle East new media, has been named as one of 14 winners of the 2012 IPI News Innovation Contest. The award will support Meedan designers and developers to tackle one of the very thorniest problems of the social web: how news teams can better verify breaking stories from the Middle East using citizen reporting. We are honored to count IPI as a funding partner, putting us as it does in the company of some very high profile grantees, including AFP Foundation, Media... Read The Rest →
Meedan releases update to participatory liveblogging service
Meedan has released a second iteration of its participatory reporting platform for Egyptian media partner, Al-Masry Al-Youm, as part of a multi-year project to support citizen journalism in the Middle East. The update further increases the visibility of citizen reporting in Al-Masry Al-Youm’s news output, and paves the way for the platform’s extension to five other Middle East media partners later this year as a collaborative verification workbench called CheckDesk. Its part of an effort to improve the use of citizen reporting in Middle East media. The platform enables citizens... Read The Rest →
Are you following the Arab spring through social media? Share your experiences
How can we better assess the credibility of citizen news reports online? What tools would help us to cross-reference and investigate citizen content? As part of a multi-year project with partners in Egypt and the United States, Meedan is supporting journalists to sort citizen media for credibility and accuracy. Here we ask you to help us understand the features we need to make this possible. Please fill in this 4-minute questionnaire, and if you want us to follow up with you for an interview, please give us a shout on... Read The Rest →
Meedan wins multi-year grant to support citizen news curation in Middle East
Meedan has won a multi-year grant to support an innovative news project in the Arab world that will help put Middle East citizens in the driving seat of news gathering. The grant was awarded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) under its freedom of expression and democratization program. It will support Meedan to begin prototyping a news platform for citizen media curation in Arabic and English in collaboration with regional media partners. A leading daily newspaper in Egypt has agreed to take part in the first year, to be... Read The Rest →
Questions the London Conference on Libya didn't ask: Notes from Belief in Dialogue forum
Most eyes in London were on Lancaster House today as Hillary Clinton joined foreign secretaries from around the world to talk about an international response to Libya. But just a stone’s throw away overlooking the Mall in the magnificent building of the British Academy, a different, but perhaps no less important, conversation was underway. The Belief in Dialogue symposium brought together scientists, theologians, political historians, policy people, and inter-faith practitioners to thrash out a model of the way in which religious and secular forms of knowledge and practice can coexist.... Read The Rest →
WARNING: Social media is dangerous. Here's how you can reduce the risks.
Social Media in Repressive States: The Risks Egyptians could never have removed Hosni Mubarak, or even made the case for deep reform, without reclaiming the streets. Much of the struggle of the January 25 protests centred on whether protesters could maintain a popular presence in public space. The violence meted out by police and regime supporters sought to remove people from public space, and scare away those who were thinking of joining. It is widely thought social media played an important role in galvanizing protesters to take part. But social media... Read The Rest →
Meedan Translates Libyan Blogger for Guardian Comment is Free
In a partnership with the Guardian Comment is Free, we are working to source, translate and edit comment pieces from bloggers on the ground in Middle Eastern countries experiencing revolutionary protests and reform movements. Our latest effort involved working with a brilliant young Libyan blogger based in Tripoli whose piece was published today after we translated it. Here’s a snippet from the Guardian piece: as the calls for foreign intervention grow, I’d like to send a message to western leaders: Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy. This is a priceless opportunity that... Read The Rest →
Middle East Protests: Follow Voices on the Ground
The protests sweeping the Middle East have taken much of the world by surprise. But perhaps that just means those of us outside the region need to listen better. We now have the opportunity to learn about emerging currents in societies in the region from the people who live there. Social media and the emerging independent press give us that opportunity. So in an effort to help you discover new people to follow on Twitter, new blogs and columnists to watch and new Facebook pages to fan, we have created... Read The Rest →