On April 29, 2024, Internews Kosova held a training session with students of the University of Prishtina ‘Hasan Prishtina’, in Prishtina, on the field of disinformation and fact-checking.

This training was held as part of the project “Strengthening the integrity of the media: Promoting Fact-Checking and combating disinformation in Kosovo”, financed by the European Union, CFI (Media Development Agency) and implemented by Internews Kosova.

In the first part of this training, Kreshnik Gashi – Managing Editor at Kallxo.com lectured the participating students about the disinformation history and how to identify disinformation narratives, illustrating those with practical examples as well as explaining the process in general, among other things- the functioning of kallxo.com and the way how disinformation has spread in our country depending on the geo-political interests that have come mainly from Russia, China, Serbia and other countries that, in addition to, far-right narratives, have also spread disinformation related to religion.

To tackle disinformation, Gashi emphasized the need to have fact-checking as a principal tool, thus clarifying the fact-checking methodologies as well as the fact-checking process as a whole. With practical examples, such as Kryptometer on kallxo.com, it was shown in a detailed way, the process from giving a public statement to the stage when it will be verified is true or not. The news in general, not infrequently, can be complex and requires thorough research and verification before it is published or denied as such.

This training was attended by 69 students, out of which 60 were women. The attending students in this training session were interested especially in the disinformation and influence coming from Russia and Serbia asking questions regarding the Banjska attack. Present at this event were also Ms. Remzie Shahini–Hoxhaj, Professor of Philology Faculty, and Mr.Alban Zeneli, professor of the Philology Faculty at the University of Prishtina.