Journalists are increasingly being targeted by disinformation campaigns and online threats. This environment creates a chilling effect on investigative journalism and media freedom. IPI’s OnTheLine and Decoding the Disinformation Playbook projects have focused on systematically monitoring these attacks and analyzing the patterns they take. IPI has also developed several resources for media including our newsroom protocol to support journalists targeted with online harassment and our Guide to Decoding Disinformation, a tool for investigating disinformation and smear campaigns against independent media. 

This networking meeting aims to strengthen links among actors in Africa working to monitor and counter disinformation and other forms of online attacks on media. It is open to media outlets, investigative journalists, fact-checking organizations, technologists, and other relevant actors in this space.

During this meeting we will:

• Discuss the growing challenges of disinformation and online threats faced by journalists.
• Facilitate peer-to-peer exchange of best practices and strategies for identifying and countering disinformation
• Promote network building and identify existing coalitions that can be relied on to share experiences and resources
• Explore opportunities for collective action and advocacy efforts to promote journalist safety online.

Who is this meeting for?

This engagement meeting is for all media outlets, partners, and organizations across the globe, undertaking initiatives and interested in countering disinformation and online threats targeted at journalists. This includes civil society organizations, fact-checkers, technologists, and journalists among others.