Dubawa to hold 4-day training for its fact-checking fellows

The Premium Times Center for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), through its fact-checking project, Dubawa, is set to hold its maiden fact-checking fellowship for selected journalists in Nigeria.

The 6-month fellowship, scheduled for June to November 2019, will be preceded by a 4-day intensive training starting on April 28.

The selected journalists will, at the training, be taken through courses on the misinformation ecosystem, news industry transformation, research and data journalism, investigative journalism, and fact-checking.

Commenting on the training, Ebele Oputa, Dubawa’s project officer, said: “This training has been carefully designed to provide, not just a one-directional training for the fellows but to encourage engaging conversations between the trainers and the fellows, so that the right approaches to solving the misinformation problem in Nigeria and instituting a culture of truth in newsrooms can be attained.”

Speaking on behalf of Dapo Olorunyomi, executive director, PTCIJ,  Tosin Alagbe, PTCIJ deputy programmes director, said: “Fake news and misinformation is not a new phenomenon but has become widespread with the advent of technology. So we are also hoping to use technology to counter the spread of fake news.”