Detecting Misinformation. Combating Disinformation.
During this virtual training program, we will learn how to identify and verify claims made by government officials, high-profile individuals, and government-controlled media worldwide. This program is developed in partnership with Polygraph.info, the fact-checking website produced by Voice of America (VOA). The website serves as a resource for verifying the increasing volume of disinformation and misinformation being distributed and shared globally.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 23 at 7-8.30 PM EST.
To participate in this program, please submit your registration here.
This program's trainees/speakers:
Fatima Tlis
Tlis is the investigative reporter for VOA on Polygraph.info, a globally aware and nonpartisan website responding to disinformation and misinformation around the world. She has written extensively on extremism and terrorism and has covered the Boston Marathon bombing. Prior to VOA, she was Editor in Chief of the Regnum News Agency, worked as a special correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, and reported for the Associated Press. In 2007, 2009, and 2012 she testified before the United States Congress on human rights and freedom of expression in Russia. In 2015, she was among three journalists invited to the White House by former President Barack Obama on World Press Freedom Day, in recognition of their contributions to freedom of the press globally. Tlis was a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2007-2008) and a Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University for the 2008-2009 academic year. She has won international awards including the Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University; the German Zeit-Stiftun Award; the British Rory Peck Freelancer’s Choice Award; the Human Rights Watch award; the Amnesty International Media Award. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Russian language and literature from Stavropol University, Russia.
James Kovpak
James has worked for Voice of America's Polygraph project since 2017. Prior to that, he wrote for multiple publications and outlets in Russia and Ukraine. James will be discussing the role of Russian disinformation in Ukraine and other conflicts, as well as the general methodologies of Russian disinfo. We will discuss how Russian messaging in foreign countries often targets opposites of the political spectrum, with the effect of creating a consensus on the issues Russia finds relevant.
William Echols
Prior to joining Polygraph.info in 2018, William served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan and has an MA in International Politics from Queen's University Belfast. He spent nearly 10 years living and traveling around Russia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe, working as a volunteer, journalist, teacher, and translator. He is the founder of the blog Russian Avos and the author of the novel Lana Walked on the Shore. After leaving Russia, he did a stint as a freelance journalist in India, before moving onto the Bangkok Post and other media outlets in Thailand. William will talk about his work fact-checking East and Southeast Asia and the primary trends of disinformation such as claims over the origins of COVID-19; China’s activities in the South China Sea; genocide allegations in Xinjiang; and other efforts to counter Chinese disinformation.
Nisan Ahmado
Nisan came to Polygraph.info from the Voice of America Extremism Watch Desk. She is an International Broadcaster with demonstrated experience in media. In the past, she lived in and reported from Syria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. Published journalism in geopolitics, historical and cultural contexts, and humanitarian stories of people on the ground. Analysis of current issues, clarifying complex situations and thinking the way forward. Proficient in Arabic, English, Levant, and Saudi dialects. Nisan will talk about the challenges and techniques of identifying and fact-checking the false and misleading claims in the Arab World/Iran/Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa.