These sessions will be conducted by seasoned fact-checkers from Ekta’s 6 fact-checking organizations – AFP Fact Check, BoomLive, Factly, India Today Fact Check, Vishvas News and The Quint – and Meedan, a technology non-profit that builds software and initiatives to support global journalism. The training sessions are designed for undergraduate students in their final year and students pursuing post-graduation in these subjects. 

Journalism and mass media institutes are welcome to reach out to us at editors@ekta-facts.com  for more information and enrolling your students in these sessions.  

‍Our aim 

• Support universities and final year college students to participate in the training sessions on media literacy and fact-checking 
• To train selected students in fact-checking and provide mentoring and fellowship opportunities to selected students to prepare them as the next generation of fact-checkers in India  
• The training will be over two days and we intend to train 50 students over the course of these two days
• The training will be provided in one of these languages, depending on the state where the sessions are being conducted - Hindi, English and Telugu 
• After the training sessions, some of the students will be selected for a mentorship program that will be designed and coordinated by some of the Ekta newsrooms. The mentorship program will be 2-3 months long and will help the students learn from experienced fact-checkers while working with them
• The students will be paid a stipend during this period 

Selection 

• Selection of students for the media literacy training sessions will be based on their responses in the registration form. We will conduct seven workshops for journalism students from select states as indicated in the form, including some that are election-bound. We are focusing on states where Ekta members have a presence and/ or understanding of the local languages spoken in the area. The workshops will cover states in the north, north-east, two of the southern states and a few states in western India.
• Preference will be given to those students who are from Tier 2 and 3 cities in India and have not had access to training opportunities in the past. We will also encourage applications from individuals who are from historically underrepresented communities in journalism.
• The selection process for the mentorship will be based on students' interaction, their interest followed by a selection process by the newsrooms offering mentorship.

Due to the pandemic and the current situation, the workshops will be held online and the students who choose to participate will need a laptop and an internet connection to be able to successfully complete the training. The session will be 3-4 hour long and will begin in February 2022. 

Form link: https://forms.gle/RfULDxjKEMktQxM57 

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at editors@ekta-facts.com for more information.

This project is supported by Google News Initiative.  

For more information on the Ekta consortium, please visit our website https://ekta-facts.com/