The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Osmania University, in association with the US Consulate-General, Hyderabad, is organising a one-day National Conference on 'Countering Disinformation for Telugu Television Reporters' on the CFRD building premises on July 9 .
The conference is a part of the 90-hour training project which commenced early this year. The day-long session will be inaugurated by David Moyer, Public Diplomacy Officer, US Consul-General, Hyderabad, and he will also deliver the keynote address. Syed Nazakat, senior journalist and editor-in-chief of Dataleads, and Nivedita Niranjan Kumar, News Editor (South) for BOOMLive, will also address the participants. A panel discussion followed by a video presentation of the participants is scheduled at the end of the programme.
The participants from across the two Telugu states and districts are drawn from mainstream television channels, YouTubers, freelancers and includes nearly 50 per cent women
Participants have formed HydFactCheck22, a community of fact-checkers, who under the tutelage of Google certified Fact Check trainers are being imparted instruction on the tools and practices used to debunk misinformation across social and news media
The programme was conceived against the backdrop of a surge in misinformation/disinformation across media delivery platforms and a dearth of opportunities for such training for Telugu journalists as opposed to their English counterparts. Already into the third quarter, the project team has invited international fact-checkers to take part and lend their expertise to the participants .
The training is one-of-its-kind being implemented by the Department of Journalism for the first time with funding from the US Consul-General, Hyderabad. The journalism department, on its part, is providing the infrastructural facilities and logistics support.
