As journalists navigate an increasingly complex information environment shaped by disinformation and online manipulation, the ability to verify information and conduct digital investigations has become essential. The Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL) continues to address this growing need.
As part of ISOC-IL’s project “Strengthening Digital Capacities and Information Integrity among Israeli Journalism Students, Scholars and Practitioners,” training sessions were delivered across five newsrooms, reaching 79 journalists between April and June 2026. Notably, these activities build on ISOC‑IL’s earlier training sessions, delivered under the Disinformation Resilience Israel (DRI) project. While building on this experience, the recent sessions placed a stronger and more focused emphasis on practical AI tools and their application in journalistic work. They focused on identifying manipulated and AI-generated content, verifying online information, and using AI responsibly while upholding professional editorial standards. Coordinated with the Union of Journalists, the sessions were led by ISOC-IL’s Disinformation and Digital Investigations Lead, Nitsan Yasur.
The project promotes media resilience and information integrity through professional training, pedagogical innovation, and structured dialogue between academic institutions and media professionals. It is supported by a subgrant awarded by Canal France International (CFI) under the European Union-funded programme “Empowering Palestinian and Israeli Civil Societies and Media,” implemented by CFI and Expertise France.
Haaretz and TheMarker
On April 15 and 19, ISOC-IL conducted two training sessions for 38 journalists from the Israeli newspapers Haaretz (Hebrew and English editions) and TheMarker.
KAN
On June 22, ISOC-IL held a training session at the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, KAN for 20 journalists representing major KAN outlets.
Yedioth Ahronoth
On June 29, 21 journalists from leading Hebrew-language news publisher Yedioth Ahronoth participated in the session. In parallel, the Union of Journalists conducted an outreach activity at the newsroom, enabling staff to obtain press credentials, meet representatives, and explore membership in the organization. This strengthened engagement with journalists and contributed to broader professional networking and solidarity across media organizations.
The training series demonstrated the importance of equipping journalists with practical methods for investigating digital information and identifying manipulated or AI-generated content. Training assessments showed that newsroom professionals are already engaging frequently with social platforms and AI tools, but need deeper, hands-on support to apply these technologies effectively to verification and investigative work. ISOC-IL’s training sessions are designed to meet this need by providing instruction tailored to journalistic workflows. Participants’ feedback also reflected strong interest in having ISOC-IL return to deliver advanced, practice-oriented follow-up sessions, particularly on monitoring, verification workflows, data analysis, and digital investigations tailored to different newsroom roles and levels of experience.
Through this initiative, ISOC-IL continues to build journalistic capacity and to strengthen journalists’ digital investigation and verification skills in an increasingly complex information environment.
The training sessions were delivered with the financial assistance of the European Union, facilitated by CFI and Expertise France. The contents of the sessions are the sole responsibility of ISOC-IL and may under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of CFI, Expertise France and the European Union.
Additional information on related project activities is available in the updates below:
ISOC-IL Strengthens Academic Collaboration Through Participation in Local Knowledge-Sharing Forums
ISOC-IL Equips Journalism Students with Digital Investigation and Fact-Checking Skills