Institute has also provided specialised training courses to educate jour- nalists about the dangers of fake news and introduce best practices to avoid being tricked into accepting or promoting such materials. The In- stitute began this process with issuing a handbook on the “Verification of News”, then it translated the “Verification Handbook for Investiga- tive Journalism”, in cooperation with the European Journalism Centre. Later on, the institute published a book entitled “Seeking Truth in a Pile of Fake News”, in addition to publishing articles and studies addressing fake news through “Al-Sahafa” magazine and the “Al Jazeera Fellow- ship” scheme (1) . The problem of sources and content verification was originally raised after the 9/11 attacks, especially when Al Jazeera started broad- casting the videotapes of Osama Bin Laden. At the time, many questions were raised about how the network obtained those tapes and the mech- anisms it used to verify the authenticity of their content, as well as the date and place in which they were recorded. Indeed, the mechanisms of verification the Network employed back then were not developed to the level we see today, especially at the technical level. However, in dealing with those tapes, Al Jazeera counted mainly on human efforts, based on the skills, knowledge, and experiences of its distinguished journalists. Examples of such efforts include: - Evaluating the source and credibility of these materials. This required carefully watching the videos and analysing the information and content cautiously to ensure its authenticity beyond any reasonable doubt. - Hiring experts and technical specialists to ensure the videos had not been fabricated or tampered with. - Seeking the assistance of Al Jazeera correspondents in Afghani- stan, who are familiar with the regional context and its political situa- tion. - Trying to find other sources who might corroborate the authentic- ity of the audio or videotapes. (1) See, Craig Silverman (ed.), The Verification Handbook for Disinformation and Media Manipulation , translated by Muhammad Zeidan, (Doha: Al Jazeera Media Institute, 2020), p. 9.
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