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INDIA TRAINING NETWORK

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The Google News Initiative India Training Network was launched by Google in July 2018 with an aim to support journalists across India in their fight against misinformation ahead of key elections in the country. With the support of its partners like Internews, DataLeads, BoomLive, First Draft, Storyful and AltNews, the Network has so far trained 13,500+ journalists and journalism students in 350+ workshops conducted in newsrooms, colleges and press clubs in at least 10 languages across 85+ cities in India, benefitting at least 1,300+ newsrooms and universities in all.Along with giving a huge push to the number of trained fact-checkers in the country, the Network’s activities have also led to the launch of many key fact-checking initiatives, helped them become a signatory to the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN)’s and resulted in an exponential surge in number of fact-checking stories across languages and platforms.

JULY 2018 - OCTOBER 2019INDIA TRAINING NETWORK

HERE ARE SOME ACTIVITIES THE NETWORK CONDUCTED IN THE LAST ONE YEAR TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL

POLLCHECK: COVERING INDIA’S ELECTION

9 MarchCHANDIGARH

9 MarchJAMMU

30 MarchDEHRADUN

26 FebruaryDELHI

9 MarchAHMEDABAD

15 MarchJAIPUR

15 MarchMUMBAI

16 MarchPUNE

16 MarchINDORE

17 MarchBHOPAL

23 MarchPANAJI

2 MarchKOCHI

8 MarchBENGALURU

11 MarchCHENNAI

13 MarchHYDERABAD

23 MarchVISAKHAPATNAM

9 MarchBHUBANESHWAR16 March

RAIPUR

4 MarchLUCKNOW

1 MarchPATNA

2 MarchGANGTOK

9 MarchGUWAHATI

12 MarchRANCHI

6 MarchKOLKATA

16 MarchAGARTALA

16 MarchSHILLONG

9 MarchAIZAWL

23 MarchIMPHAL

2 MarchKOHIMA

n Selection of Trainers: Hundreds of journalists and journalism educators from across India applied to become trainers of the programme. Of them, 241 were selected from various parts of India.n Training-of-Trainers (ToTs): The 241 selected trainers then honed their verification skills at 4 or 5-day ToT Boot Camps - one each in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali. n Newsroom, College and External trainings: The trainers went on to train more journalists and journalism students in their newsrooms and elsewhere in

English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada in various parts of India.n FactWatch, Monthly News Bulletin: The GN I India Training Network sends out a monthly

news bulletin covering key stories from the fact-checking world and a roundup of trainings conducted by network trainers. n Factually Yours, A Webinar Series: The network

has initiated an online webinar series with OSINT expert Eoghan Sweeney to help trainers get verification mentoring from the best in the business.

PollCheck: Covering India’s Election: A

Pan-India training series launched by the network

right before elections in 2019. 29 roadshows

were conducted in 29 cities across the country, in 33 days.

G O O G L E N E W S I N I T I A T I V E I N D I A T R A I N I N G N E T W O R K I N N U M B E R S

NUMBER OF TRAININGS DONE ACROSS INDIA Andhra Pradesh: 13, Arunachal Pradesh: 1, Assam: 16, Bihar: 10, Chhattisgarh: 5, Delhi: 57, Goa: 3, Gujarat: 2, Haryana: 13, Himachal Pradesh: 1, Jammu & Kashmir: 14, Jharkhand: 5, Karnataka: 15, Kerala: 11, Madhya Pradesh: 8, Maharashtra: 32, Manipur: 1, Meghalaya: 5,Mizoram: 2, Nagaland: 3, Odisha: 7, Punjab: 8, Rajasthan: 15, Sikkim: 1, Tamil Nadu: 16, Telangana: 3, Tripura: 3, Uttar Pradesh: 69, Uttarakhand: 5, West Bengal: 12

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543ASSAM

362KERALA

492WEST BENGAL

309BIHAR

276CHHATTISGARH

608HARYANA

1545DELHI

442JAMMU & KASHMIR

373MADHYA PRADESH

1044MAHARASHTRA

172UTTARAKHAND

344PUNJAB

256ODISHA

517ANDHRA PRADESH

515RAJASTHAN

2718UTTAR PRADESH

218TELANGANA

503KARNATAKA

1194TAMIL NADU

39GUJARAT

95GOA

20SIKKIM

34ARUNACHAL PRADESH 53

HIMACHAL PRADESH

54NAGALAND

189MANIPUR73

MIZORAM

243MEGHALAYA

85TRIPURA

387JHARKHAND

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS TRAINED ACROSS INDIATOTAL PARTICIPANTS TRAINED:

13,500+(JOURNALISTS, MEDIA

EDUCATORS & JOURNALISM STUDENTS)

TOTAL HOURS OF TRAINING IMPARTED:

1,450+CITIES WHERE TRAINING

OFFERED:

85+

STATES WHERE TRAINING OFFERED:

29TRAINERS

ON-BOARDED:

241 ACROSS 7 DIFFERENT

ToTS (MALES: 159, FEMALES: 82)

PARTICIPATING NEWS ORGANISATIONS:

875+ (INCLUDING ALL

MAJOR ONES ACROSS THE 10 LANGUAGES)

NUMBER OF DIGITAL SAFETY SESSIONS CONDUCTED:

120NUMBER OF PRESS CLUBS AS HOSTS:

26

ELECTION ROADSHOWS CONDUCTED:

29 IN 29 CITIES

ACROSS THE COUNTRY, IN 33 DAYS

PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES:

500+(INCLUDING MANY TOP JOURNALISM COLLEGES

IN THE COUNTRY)

NUMBER OF YOUTUBE SESSIONS ORGANISED:

29NUMBER OF WEBINARS

CONDUCTED BY THE NETWORK:

22

EXTERNAL EVENTS COVERED:

42(LIKE DATA VERIFICATION

BOOT CAMP IN GURUGRAM,

IFCN MEET IN DELHI AND TALK JOURNALISM

IN JAIPUR)

TOTAL TRAININGS CONDUCTED:

350+(118 NEWSROOMS, 26

PRESS CLUBS, 42 EVENTS AND 162 COLLEGES)

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*Disclaimer: This map is a generalized illustration only, and is not intended to be used for reference purposes.

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N E T W O R K I M P A C T

n Dainik Jagran Launches Hindi Fact-Checking Initiative: Led by a GNI trainer, leading Hindi daily Dainik Jagran launched Vishvasnews.com - a website

dedicated to debunking fake news in Hindi. More GNI trainers became part

of this initiative. Collectively, they have done over 1000 fact-checking stories till date.

n Times of India Launches Times Fact Check, Publishes In Multiple Languages: One of our trainers from the Times of India trained his colleagues and together they now form

the core team that launched a dedicated fact-checking initiative - the Times Fact Check. Stories published by the Times Fact Check are also published in at least 9 other languages.

n More Boost To Language Fact-Checking: Participants of the GNI Network verification trainings write fact-checking stories in at least 10 languages - including English, Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada among others.

n Malayala Manorama Launches Weekly Fact-Checking Column: One of our Network trainers from the Malayala Manorama

group launched a weekly fact-checking column - called ‘eVirReal’ - that is published in the largest circulated regional language newspaper of India and also its website.

n India Today Trains All Editorial Teams, Strengthens Fact Check Operations: GNI trainers from the India Today Group organised multiple trainings for all editorial teams across some of their bureaus and expanded their fact check operations by launching the Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA). Using the tools taught at Network trainings, they have done several key investigative stories.

n Khabar Lahariya Launches Election Fact-Checking Show: GNI trainer from Khabar Lahariya

launched an election related fact-checking

video show in the run-up to the 2019 elections to make the rural audience aware about hoaxes and false videos.

n The Hindu Launches Fact-Check Section: The Hindu’s team in Chennai also launched a fact-checking section on their website to debunk fake stories. All journalists from the group who attended the training have started a closed chat group to coordinate their efforts.

n GNI Trainers Lead Media Literacy Trainings, Initiatives: Many GNI trainers also organised media literacy trainings for school children,

police departments, law enforcement agencies, army officers and also civil society members and trained them on how to spot and debunk fake news. Many also participated in panels at events and on television and radio shows and delivered talks to spread awareness.

n Training Helps Existing Fact-Checkers Ace Fact-Checking Skills, Crack Key OSINT Investigations: The hands-on training provided by experts at Network trainings helped existing and new fact-checkers master key skills and do important investigations using OSINT or open source intelligence tools during key events like the Pulwama attack, Balakot strikes, general elections 2019 etc.

n Top J-Schools Include Verification Module In Curriculum: Some of the top journalism colleges in the country - like IIMC in Delhi and SIMC in Pune - have included the GNI India Network’s verification module in their

curriculum. Some of their students also got a chance to work with fact-checkers and get hands-on experience.

n In A First, Press Clubs Across 20 Cities Engaged In Training: The Network has engaged with at least 26 press clubs so far, giving independent and freelance journalists training in fact-checking in remote areas like Leh and Itanagar. This is the first time ever that any training programme is being conducted simultaneously in these many press clubs.

Training Empowers Fact-Checkers, Helps Them Get IFCN Certification: Network training introduced participants to best-in-class verification tools and also best practices of nonpartisan and transparent fact-checking, helping more fact-checkers to become a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). India currently has the highest number of IFCN signatories in the world- 11 as of now, up from just 2 last year when the program was launched.

BUSINESS WORLD LAUNCHES FACT-CHECKING VIDEO SERIES: GNI TRAINER WORKING AT THE BUSINESS WORLD LAUNCHED A VIDEO FACT-CHECKING SERIES CALLED THE BUSINESS WORLD FACT CHECK GIVING A ROUND-UP OF LATEST FACT-CHECKING STORIES.

Surge In Number of Fact-Checkers, Fact-Check Stories: Before the start of the project, there were only a handful of fact-checkers fighting the sea of online misinformation in India - all by themselves. There are now at least 240 more trained experts who are also helping hundreds more to learn the key skills. The result: many newsrooms understand the misinformation ecosystem better and are now publishing a lot more fact-checking stories. Their work has also helped platforms like Google, YouTube and Facebook surface fact-checks in search results and in news feeds of their audience.

JULY 2018 - OCTOBER 2019INDIA TRAINING NETWORK

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SOCIAL BUZZ

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T E S T I M O N I A L S

I was part of the first batch of GNI Training Network in Delhi. With the learnings from this workshop, we at Factly strengthened our line of

work in debunking fake news going viral on social media platforms in addition to our fact-checking on government claims and policies. We were able to expand our fact-checking team and train them on fact-checking process.”

—BHARATH GUNIGANTI, Fact Checker- FACTLY, Telangana

After undergoing the GNI network fact-checking training, I took many initiatives in our fight against misinformation.

I launched Vishvas News, which is a fact-check initiative of Jagran New Media, and it has received certification from International Fact Checking Network. I also established a separate and dedicated team of fact-checkers and currently we fact-check in four languages - Hindi, English, Urdu, Punjabi. We have done at least 1,104 fact-checking stories so far.

—RAJESH UPADHYAY Editor-in-Chief & Vice President, Vishvas News & Jagran New Media, New Delhi

GNI training on Fact Checking & Verification

was a very enriching experience for me as I was able to conduct training programs and also made it a part of our curriculum at IIMC.—PROF. ANUBHUTI YADAVHoD, New Media and Information Technology, IIMC

ToT can really make the bigger and

necessary difference. Thank you once again for having me here. I am grateful to you for your hospitality, for your patience, and for spreading the knowledge!”—IRENE LALRUATKIMI Asst Professor, Mizoram University

The ToT program immensely

helped us make a roadmap for Fact Check and helped sensitize the entire editorial team of India Today Group about the fundamentals of fact checking.”—BALKRISHNA Editor - Fact Check, India Today Group

Great initiative! Way to go Google! Thank you to the entire Team GNI for an awesome training and the overall conduct.”

—DEVENDER BHATIA Bangalore University

My gratitude towards the GNI

for bringing many-fold changes in my professional career and making me a tiny part of this massive and ongoing fight against this global information disorder, called fake news.”—AKHIL RANJAN Fact-Check Reporter (India) at AFP

The training program was of great help

in fact-checking stories and busting fake news. Thanks to the GNI Team I now run the Fact Check desk at TOI!”—VIKRAM BHALLAChief Copy Editor, Times Fact Check

The GNI training has been

an extraordinary experience.”—SHELLY WALIA Senior News Editor at The Quint / Webqoof

P A R T I C I P A T I O N I N T o T B O O T C A M P S

English ToT @ Gurugram, July 30 - Aug 3, 2018 Total Participants: 39, Women: 17, Men: 22

Tamil ToT @ Chennai, September 17-20, 2018Total Participants: 33, Women: 7, Men: 26

Hindi ToT @ Gurugram, September 3-7, 2018Total Participants: 38, Women: 12, Men: 26

Marathi ToT @ Mumbai, December 3-6, 2018Total Participants: 27, Women: 15, Men: 12

Kannada ToT @ Bengaluru, August 27-31, 2018Total Participants: 38, Women: 13, Men: 25

Telugu ToT @ Hyderabad, November 19-22, 2018Total Participants: 36, Women: 4, Men: 32

JULY 2018 - OCTOBER 2019INDIA TRAINING NETWORK

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