37 Urdu Journalists Pass Out Fact Check Course From OU

Hyderabad, August 10 (Hydnow): Jennifer Larson, US Consulate General Hyderabad, stated that the menace of disinformation across the globe weakens democracies and cautioned journalists to be vigilant.

She made these remarks while delivering the keynote address at the valedictory session of the training project on “Countering Disinformation for Urdu TV journalists” in the auditorium of Salar Jung Museum today.

“The simple fact is that democracy rests on a free and open press, and if the press doesn’t have the correct information, they cannot help us guard our democratic process,” Consul General Larson said.

DGP Anjani Kumar requested journalists to ensure that fake news doesn’t spread. He appealed to people not to follow the trend of message forwarding. “Never forward a message or video until you are sure about its authenticity. It doesn’t make any difference in the lives of people even if you don’t forward the right message. But it disturbs the society and may cause violence if you forward unverified messages”, Mr Anjani Kumar said.

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Osmania University, in association with the US Consulate General Hyderabad, organized the eight-month-long training. Thirty-seven Urdu journalists were successfully trained and certified.

Prof. Stevenson Kohir, Head, Department of Journalism, Osmania University, welcomed the gathering and thanked the US Consulate General for its support of the training project. Spelling out the objectives of the project, he said it was envisioned to empower Urdu journalists with fact-checking skills, tools, and techniques to prevent misinformation from creeping into the mainstream media. He said the project in blended mode extended for 40 hours and had 35 TV journalists from mainstream Urdu channels and digital platforms.

Around thirty percent of the trainees were women journalists, and eight were students from the Maulana Azad National Urdu University.

Experts from across the country delivered lectures and conducted workshops for participants under Mr. MA Majid, President, Telangana State Urdu Working Journalists TUWJF, and Syed Ghouse Mohiuddin, State General Secretary, M.A. Mohsin, State Treasurer, and Dr. Mohd Asif Ali of TUWJF presented mementos to Jennifer Larson, Consul General, DGP Anjani Kumar, and Prof. Stevenson Kohir, Head, Department of Journalism.

The Students who passed out the Fact Check course have specially thanked Sudhakar Reddy Udumula Editor-Investigation, Times of India, and other faculties. (Hydnow)

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