AKEED-Husam Assal

Electronic sites have continued to publish false news about the death of Sheikh Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi. The news travels fast, especially on social media sites, in a practice that is neither professional nor ethical. This news causes harm and concern to Sheikh al-Nabulsi and his family.

Al-Nabulsi has been hounded by death rumors all the time. Rumormongers have adamantly insisted on circulating this story, which is denied each time by Sheikh al-Nabulsi himself or his family. The sheikh said that this was the fourth time that this rumor had hounded him.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) observed that the story was posted on Arabic websites and later infiltrated social media sites. Users of these sites have circulated this story extensively despite the denial by Sheikh al-Nabulsi on a Jordanian TV channel and the denial by many electronic sites of this news.

The AKEED Monitor called Farouk al-Shuweiki, manager of the office of Sheikh Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi, who said that these rumors cause confusion and harm to Sheikh al-Nabulsi and his admirers all over the world. He demanded that such stories not be circulated in view of their sensitivity and that people go to the official website of Sheikh al-Nabulsi and the official accounts on social media in such cases. He added that he would issue a statement, which includes the URLs of the official website and the official accounts of Sheikh al-Nabulsi. He indicated that they were planning to file a complaint against the websites that published the news, but that they were facing a problem because these sites are based in other countries.

Such rumors cause great harm to the family of Sheikh al-Nabulsi and his followers. This is a violation of the Press Code of Honor, which stipulates in Article 9 that: "The mission of journalism requires accuracy and objectivity, and its practice requires confirming the accuracy of information and news before publishing it. In this context, journalists shall observe the following:

1. "Not publishing unconfirmed, misleading, distorted, or propagandistic information, including pictures, articles, and comments. Also, a clear distinction must be made between fact and commentary or opinion and news."

The above also violates the standard of accuracy, which stresses the need for confirming information before publishing and circulating it and avoiding incorrect news content. It further violates the standard of fairness and integrity, which stresses the need for reporting incidents faithfully and "not causing pain, embarrassment or harm to the people who are mentioned in the news."

Social media users must seek accuracy in conveying information, confirm news before circulating it, and demonstrate social responsibility by avoiding causing harm to the persons mentioned in false news.

The fundamental rule in handling user-generated content on social media is to contact the source directly (sources against platforms). This is because previous experience has largely proven that this content is mostly fabricated or fake.