Participants of the one-day capacity building workshop on media literacy for journalists held in Dimapur on June 2.
Dimapur, June 2 (MExN): The US Consulate General Kolkata, in partnership with Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) and with the support of the Dimapur Press Club hosted a capacity building workshop on media literacy for journalists in Dimapur on June 2.
The media literacy event is part of a series of workshop that the US Consulate Kolkata is implementing with CUTS International to empower journalists in the region.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the workshop, Adrian Pratt, Director, American Center, US Consulate General Kolkata emphasised that, “the digital age has enabled access to diverse sources of knowledge at a mouse click. However, it has also created unprecedented challenges and structural changes in the news industry.”
He shed light on the imminent arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential repercussions on newsrooms globally, cautioning against its negative effects in conjunction with the spread of misinformation. Pratt highlighted how AI possesses the remarkable ability to generate fabricated content with unwavering certainty, thereby intensifying the challenges faced by newsrooms.
Sucharita Bhattacharjee, Deputy Head, CUTS International-Calcutta Resource Centre laid down the overarching theme of the workshop and mentioned that the workshop aims at providing hands on training to the journalists to fact check.
She said, “Today’s workshop as a part of the capacity building initiative for media professionals, primarily targets local media houses from tier II, tier III cities and even beyond.” Bhattacharjee underlined the need for creating an informal platform for the media professionals to identify and combat misinformation and fake news.
She added that these workshops are being organized as part of the suggestions received from the journalists from the Indo-Pacific countries at the international media workshop hosted in Kolkata during August 11-12, 2022 at the American Center, Kolkata.
Akangjungla from The Morung Express, Dimapur recounted her enriching experience and key learning from the Kolkata workshop organised by CUTS International with the support of the US Consulate Kolkata, and in collaboration with South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) and East West Center (EWC). She highlighted how meeting journalists from different parts of the world helped her to adopt a fresh mindset, compelling her to craft stories that resonated with a broader audience. Irrespective of their geographic origins, she discovered a striking similarity in the challenges faced by them, reinforcing her commitment to reporting stories that foster relatability.
Divya Chandra, Producer, Workshop and Training, Boom Live was the main resource person for the workshop. She spoke on how to differentiate between misinformation and disinformation; how to debunk online misinformation and disinformation using tools and observation skills; increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in misinformation space; and how to write a fact-check articles.
The workshop was attended by over 30 journalists based in Dimapur and Kohima, and also from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, St Joseph University, Chümoukedima.
