During French Press and Media in Schools Week from March 21 to 26, the FRANCE 24 Observers team when to meet a class of students from the Paul Valéry high school in Paris. We answered their questions about disinformation and exchanged tips on how to sort the real from the fake. This report covers our experience, and ends with an image the students verified themselves.
In partnership with CLEMI, the French Centre for Media and Information, we spent five sessions with the students, introducing them to fact-checking using examples of fake news that they themselves had come across.
Disinformation about Covid-19 caught their attention, especially videos on Facebook and TikTok claiming that Covid self-tests would react to water. With the help of a virologist, the students disproved this claim.
We helped them create an episode of Truth or Fake to showcase their investigation:
'Truth or Fake', a multilingual programme in partnership with CLEMI
The eighth edition of our annual Truth or Fake programme is presented by Derek Thomson in English, Maëva Poulet in French, Fatma Ben Hamad in Arabic and Natalia Ruiz Giraldo in Spanish. It was produced in partnership with French media organisation CLEMI (Centre de liaison de l'enseignement et des médias d'information).
The programme is a part of the FRANCE 24 Observers team's mission to share advice and best practices to have on social media, while answering students' questions about disinformation.
Watch the weekly short version of 'Truth or Fake'
Since October 2018, we've been producing a short version of Truth or Fake available on our website and social media accounts.
Plus, every night on FRANCE 24 at 8:45pm and 10:20pm, you can watch a recap of our fact-checks by James Creedon and Catalina Marchant de Abreu.
Do you want to get in touch with our team about possible disinformation? Send us an email, a message on Facebook or Twitter, or reach out on WhatsApp at +33 6 30 93 41 36.