As Google is trying to improve news with the new Google News, on the other hand, misinformation and fake news are spreading rapidly via web. Google, as a part of the Google News Initiative, has announced the launch of an extensive training network in India, only for journalists so that they can be alert and informed about misinformation and fake news. As a part of this initiative, Google will also provide new tools for journalists to combat fake news.
The Google News Initiative India Training Network will provide training to 8000 journalists in English and six additional Indian languages within the span of one year. The Network will select 200 journalists from cities across India, who will sharpen their skills in verification and training during 5-day train-the-trainer boot camps that will be organized. Now, the group of certified trainers will train more journalists at 2-day, 1-day and half-day workshops organized by the Network. Training workshops will be conducted in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada in different cities across India. The key aims of the training will be on fact-checking, online verification and digital hygiene for journalists, using a curriculum built by experts from First Draft, Storyful, AltNews, BoomLive, Factchecker.in, and DataLeads.
Commenting on this initiative, Irene Jay Liu, Google News Lab Lead, Asia-Pacific said, “Supporting trusted, authoritative media sources is a top priority for Google, which is why we are proud to collaborate with Internews, DataLeads, and BoomLive to support journalists in their fight against misinformation in India. Our goal is to train more than 200 trainers, who will then train 8,000 journalists in six languages over the next year, making this Google’s largest training network in the world. When journalists and communities work together, armed with the online tools to verify information, they can build a bulwark of trusted media to fight the tide of misinformation.”
Journalists or anyone who is teaching the current batch of journalism students, who are willing to join the fight against fake news can participate in the training, and learn different verification skills and techniques from the experts. The Application is open now and there are limited seats for each language.
To become a Google-certified trainer, the applicants will get 3 chances, for which the details are provided below.
- Round 1: Deadline is June 30 for the first English train-the-trainer boot camp, which will be held in Gurugram from July 30-August 3
- Round 2: Deadline is June 15 for trainers in English, Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil
- Round 3: Deadline is September 15 for trainers in English, Telugu, Marathi, and Bengali
