On October 4, Internews’ partner Congolese fact-checking initiative, Balobaki (“it seems that” in Lingala, one of the main national language in the DR Congo) was awarded the Francophone Prize for Innovation in the Media Prix by Reporters Without Borders, France Médias Monde, and the International Organization of French-Speaking Countries (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) at the Francophonie Summit (October 4-5, Villers Cotterets, France).
Balobaki won the first Prize for its work on disinformation during the 2023 electoral period. The Kinshasa-based initiative has been innovative in “distributing newsletters hunting down fake news from the main sources of misinformation: social networks and closed loops like WhatsApp,” wrote RFI. (listen to the ‘Atelier des Medias’ radio program on Balobaki’s work – French).
Internews has provided technical and financial support to Balobaki, Congo Check (another fact-checking initiative based in Goma in the Eastern part of the country), Kinshasa News Lab, and the Catholic Diocesan Justice and Peace Commissions in 9 provinces. Internews has also supported the Association of Women Media Professionals (Association des Femmes des Médias – AFEM) for collecting rumors, hate speech, and fake news, producing a newsletter and media content, and addressing fake news’ dissemination in local WhatsApp groups. The newsletter, Sango Ya Bomoko / Habari Ya Umoja (‘Information for Unity’ in Lingala and Swahili, the two main national languages in the DRC) and online content were disseminated by 90 members of CSOs and partner journalists in more than 500 local WhatsApp of over 150,000 journalists and community leaders. Additionally, Balobaki has been creating its own content, which is shared in affiliated WhatsApp groups of journalists.
“Each of the Congolese people who are connected is a member to an average of 10 WhatsApp groups, according to a 2021 survey conducted by Target, a research company,” notes Ange Kasongo, founder of Balobaki. She explained the focus on WhatsApp as it is very popular and “this type of platform is very easy to use and adapted to the context where audio and video content are the most used in countries where the literacy rate is not high.”
Listen to #D’AbordlesFaits podcast with Umbo Salama, manager of Radio Soleil, Butembo, North Kivu province
After the elections, Balobaki also produced a series of podcasts #D’abordlesFaits (‘First, the facts’ in French) about the experience of community radios addressing hate speech and disinformation during the electoral process: 10 editors of Internews partner community radios were interviewed.
Internews’ support to Balobaki was funded by USAID and the Swedish International Development Agency for the podcast series #D’AbordlesFaits.