Workshop to combat false information held in Hetauda city

Freedom Forum successfully conducted the two-phase workshop on ‘How to combat false information online: Be a verification Ninja’ in Hetauda on 8-9 September 2022. The first phase of the workshop was conducted in Kathmandu on 5-6 September. The workshop hosted by Freedom Forum and led by Fulbright specialist Ms. Linda Austin was conducted in collaboration with the Fulbright Commission Nepal. The workshop was conducted in five sessions. The first session deals with the identification of seven different types of misinformation and disinformation and the importance of journalism in addressing those issues. In the second session, participants were busy searching trends of false information on the internet and monitoring efficiency of passive search tools like Google, Facebook, etc. Following this, the participants were acquainted with five pillars of verification: provenance, source, date, location and motivation. Similarly, on the second day and fourth session of the workshop, Austin guided the participants on the use of other skills such as reverse-image search, EXIF data, Google maps, etc. In the final session, the participants were taught why and how to debunk false information through their reporting. "The workshop was very useful to learn how to use the fact checking tools. This type of training should be provided to all working journallists as well as news chiefs and editors", said Editor-In-Chief at https://www.praharkhabar.com/, Bhanubhakta Acharya. Similarly, Freedom Forum’s Executive Chief Taranath Dahal maintained, “The workshop was a good opportunity for local journalists to learn about important verification tools which are extremely useful for reporting and debunking false information. It helps build right information ecosystem and reduce discrediting to journalists.” He also thanked the Fulbright Commission and Fulbright specialist Linda Austin for providing this opportunity to FF as a host institution. “The journalists in Hetauda were a joy to work with! They engaged fully in the classwork and asked good questions. Clearly, they recognize the danger that false information poses to democracies everywhere and are eager to learn more on how it can be combatted. I am grateful to the Freedom Forum and the Fulbright Commission in Nepal for hosting me to help them achieve their goals”, marked the specialist Austin.