ECSM – Ahmed Rahhal
On Thursday, July 11, 2024, via the Zoom application, a session was held to discuss several graduation projects for the Media Faculty students at Aleppo University in the liberated areas. Two of the three projects sponsored by Ethical Charter for Syrian Media “ECSM” were discussed, along with other graduation projects, with the participation of students, supervisors, and professors from the university.
The ECSM sponsored three graduation projects for 10 students from the Media Faculty at Aleppo University in the liberated areas. These projects address highly significant topics in the Syrian media sector, align with the ECSM’s policies and methodologies for developing the sector, and contribute to enhancing and raising the standards of journalistic work in Syria.
Dr. Kamal Alhaj, the supervisor of the graduation projects at the Media Faculty, said in an interview with the “ECSM” website: “The projects completed this year in cooperation with ECSM include three projects, two of which were completed and discussed, while the third is still in progress by the students this month”. The two projects received an excellent rate with a score of 99%, which is a very high evaluation, and the discussion committee praised the projects and the students work.
He explained that the first project was titled “Fake News on Social Media”, pointing out that the title was agreed upon with the university administration and the ECSM due to its importance at this stage. Fake news plays a destructive role at this time on local, regional, and global levels, causing public unrest and stirring up societal tensions by disseminating false or exaggerated news, potentially causing strife within or between communities or even nations.
He added: “There was significant interest in this topic, which was well-received by the university administration, encouraging us to start working on it. We were provided with outstanding fourth-year students to complete this project, who exemplified seriousness, perseverance, and thorough and precise scientific research to gather the academic material”.
He continued: “The fake news project was distinguished by various materials serving this topic, including a research study, a booklet discussing fake news and how to handle and detect it, a set of images explaining the terminology of fake news, a trifold brochure on verification tools, and a proposed project for a news verification platform”.
The fake news and the hate speech projects ranked first among the graduation projects discussed.
He added that the second project is also of great importance, both historically and in the future. He underscores the university’s commitment to linking student projects with socially significant topics, in collaboration with the ECSM, which pays attention to these issues.
The project addressed hate speech on social media by monitoring, studying, and presenting a concise and summarized documentation of the topic. The students (preparation, presentation, filming, editing) put in complete effort, including a research study, a film, and a brochure explaining the subject.
Dr. Alhaj concluded his interview by wishing the students to continue in this field after graduation to monitor fake news, incited materials to hatred, and expose and combat them through a solid and objective scientific approach, in cooperation with relevant entities such as the ECSM.
Student Abdulrahman Sadiq, one of the participants in the “Hate Speech” graduation project, said in an interview with the ECSM website, responding to the question of why hate speech, “Hate speech has become widespread recently worldwide. There is a lack of research and studies that address or explain hate speech, and due to its danger to communities and civil and international peace, and the significant confusion between hate speech and freedom of opinion and expression, we decided to focus our graduation project on hate speech and freedom of opinion and expression in the media”.
Regarding the key messages they aimed to convey to the audience, he added that they were keen to clarify the concepts of “freedom of opinion and expression and hate speech”, emphasizing their detailed explanation of these concepts and the significant danger of hate speech to societies, how media can fall into hate speech, and ways to avoid it.
About the nature of the project, he said: “The project ‘Hate Speech and Freedom of Opinion and Expression in the Media’ is a comprehensive project that keeps pace with the massive development in publishing methods and information delivery. We implemented the project as a (documentary film) to convey messages and information easily to the audience. We included several interviews with specialists in media, communication, international relations, and law to cover all aspects of the topic, both journalistic and legal”, indicating that the project contains a good number of visual designs (such as brochures and posters) to accompany and explain the documentary film.
He confirmed that, in cooperation with the ECSM, a strategic plan will be followed to publish the project to the public and convey its messages to the largest possible audience.
Sadiq explained that he and his colleagues in the hate speech project received first place among the graduation projects discussed on Thursday, July 11, 2024, after more than two months of continuous effort, and close supervision and follow-up by Dr. Kamal Alhaj. “My feeling of achieving first place among many graduation projects is a feeling of confidence and ambition for the best. As the first graduating class in the Media Faculty at Aleppo University in the liberated areas, we will continue to enhance our academic achievements with more practical experiences and skills, to bear responsibility towards the people of free Syria”, he concluded.
Student Mustafa Hashim, one of the participants in the fake news project, said: “Through this project, we wanted to combine theoretical and practical aspects, focusing on the disease and the cure, by extensively explaining the terms and classifications of fake news, and then ways to handle and detect them by preparing a set of tools we consider important for every journalist. We hope this project serves Syrian media and benefits us and our colleagues. We thank the ECSM, which provided us with tools, academic materials, rewards, and project production costs, making our project distinguished and achieving first place alongside our colleagues’ project on hate speech”.
