Director IFCN
Registration has opened for the eighth Global Fact-Checking Summit, the 2021 edition of the annual conference of The Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which brings together fact-checkers, journalists, technologists, policy makers, leaders, educators and consumers who are interested in the integrity of the information ecosystem.
Taking place virtually from October 20 to 23, 2021, the Summit tagged “Global Fact 8”, will be held virtually for the second time after meeting in person for years previously in different cities around the world, including London, in the United Kingdom; Buenos Aires in Argentina; Madrid in Spain; Rome in Italy and Cape Town in South Africa where fact-checkers around the world align to address misinformation and disinformation on a global scale.
The summit will build on last year’s event where more than 1,000 people comprising of fact-checkers, researchers, industry experts, and big tech teams were brought together to address misinformation on a global scale and uphold the integrity of the universal information ecosystem.
The Summit will, each day, hold seven hours of forward-thinking sessions that will explore such topics as harassment against fact-checkers; regional collaboration among the community; regulation efforts in Europe towards big tech; media literacy in the age of COVID-19; structured fact-checking data through ClaimReview; the importance of good national statistics for fact-checkers; commercializing fact-checking as a service; fact-checking when democracy is under threat as well as a presentation with American journalism expert Tom Rosenstiel that would inspire lively discussions surrounding the important role facts play in society.
The summit will also feature a keynote address by Claire Wardle, co-founder and U.S. Director of First Draft, to reflect on the state of the information ecosystem from a pandemic perspective. Participants will be opportuned to hear from fact-checkers in countries around the world including the Philippines, Brazil, South Africa, and Norway.
Health officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) will discuss their collaborative efforts in vaccine safety communication with the fact-checking community. International Fact-Checking Network’s Director, Baybars Orsek will facilitate a conversation to discuss the third-party fact-checking programme with participants from Facebook after five years of the initiative, and based on the overwhelming positive feedback from the fact-checking community. The former Buzzfeed News duo Craig Silverman (ProPublica) and Jane Lytvynenko (Shorenstein Center) will offer an extensive and updated training session for fact-checkers.
Participants will have the opportunities to virtually network with other participants through the platform’s lounge and meeting features. The general sessions will be free for interested participants to attend; however, some sessions are exclusive to International Fact-Checking Network’s verified signatory organizations.
For more information and to register for the sessions, please visit the Global Fact 8 website https://globalfact8.com/.
