Veritas to Hold Media Verification and Fact Checking Workshop

By Tendai Chisiri

In a bid to improve reporting and accuracy in information sharing and reporting and better understanding of the Patriotic Act and it’s impacts, Veritas will hold a verification and fact checking workshop for media stakeholders in the capital Thursday.

In their book, “The Elements of Journalism” Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach write that “the essence of journalism is a discipline of verification.

“Over the election period, there was a lot of information, misinformation and disinformation which floated around social media. For example, before official election results were even announced, there were various photographs floating around of the “results”. Many of which proved to be inaccurate”.

“The events surrounding the election highlighted a need for fact checking and verification efforts with media personnel in various organisations as well as journalists. In doing so, Veritas will also seek to dispel disinformation and misinformation in Zimbabwe as well as lay out the legal position of spreading information”, Veritas said.


The main objective of the objective is to improve reporting and documentation of human rights violations. “Under this objective, we seek; to illustrate conflicting reports, to practically go through the process of verification and fact-checking, to improve participants’ understanding of the importance of verification and fact checking in journalism and other forms of media, to understand the limitations of the Patriot Act as it relates to information sharing and to provide a platform for participant to share experiences and best practices on verification and fact checking”, Veritas added.