Journalists: register for free training in Kathmandu or Hetauda in how to combat false information online

Freedom Forum is offering free workshops in Kathmandu and Hetauda in September for journalists on how to combat false information online.

In two half-day sessions, journalists will learn from Fulbright Specialist Linda Austin:

  • How we got into a global infodemic of false information online and why journalism matters in countering it;
  • How to search actively and monitor passively for false information on Google, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter;
  • How to debunk false information through a verification process that uses digital tools, including reverse-image search and EXIF-data readers, and techniques such as observation, lateral reading and geolocation.
  • How to report responsibly on false information to slow its spread.

Journalists: REGISTER for free for the “Be a Verification Ninja” workshop in either Kathmandu or Hetauda by August 25, 2022.

Register today; spaces are limited to 25 in each city. Nepali journalists identified training in these skills as their No. 1 priority in a survey conducted by the Freedom Forum.

The training will be highly interactive, with journalists practicing the skills being taught. It will be offered in English with interpretation to Nepali.

Download a preliminary agenda.

“We certainly don’t have all the answers in the United States to the problem of false information online,” Austin said, “but I’m eager to share what we have learned and to discover from my Nepali colleagues what has worked for them in our joint fight for facts.”

To keep journalists from missing an entire day of work, the workshops will be held in:

  • Kathmandu*: 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 5 continuing from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 6
  • Hetauda*: 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 8 continuing from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 9.

All government-required COVID-19 protocols, including wearing masks, will be followed for this in-person training.

About the Fulbright Specialist Program

Austin, an international journalism educator from the United States, is teaching in Nepal under the auspices of the binational Fulbright Commission in Nepal, which has facilitated educational exchanges of scholars and students between Nepal and the United States since 1961.

Under the Fulbright Specialist Program, host institutions in Nepal, Freedom Forum request projects, such as this training. These projects are then paired with a U.S. academic or professional, who shares his or her expertise.

About Fulbright Specialist Linda Austin

Austin is a rare hybrid of award-winning top editor and inspirational journalism educator who is schooled in instructional design and experienced in developing e-learning, training and curricula for learners globally.

She has taught as a Fulbright Specialist in Romania and a Fulbright Scholar in Burma. She was a visiting professor in the Global Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing and executive director of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University. At the Reynolds Center and as project co-director for the News Leaders Association’s NewsTrain currently, she has produced 177 highly rated training events – online and in-person – that have reached 12,000+ journalists.

Before becoming an international journalism educator, she led three local U.S. newsrooms for a decade, resulting in seven national and 41 state awards.

About the Freedom Forum

The Freedom Forum, founded in 2005 and based in Kathmandu, is a non-governmental organization, working for the institutionalization of democracy and the protection and promotion of human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression and the right to information in Nepal.

[Note: *Participants should bear their costs for transportation and accommodation during the training period.]

For more information,
Freedom Forum
freedomforum2005@gmail.com
01-412030/ 4102022