To combat the menace of fake news and make journalism students aware about the growing problem and its implications, afact checking workshop by Google News Initiative, India Training Network, was held in the School of Mass Communication, KIIT Deemed University on October 2, 2019.
Students of 3rd year and 2nd year of Integrated Master of Communication and Journalism (IMCJ) were given a brief introduction about the Google News Initiative and later taught the basics of how to identify fake news, fake photographs and fake videos by Prof. Sambit Pal, a Google certified fact checker and part of India Training Network of Google News Initiative.
Mr. Pal is an Assistant Professor in Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhekhanal, Odisha. Multimedia journalist turned media teacher, Mr. Pal has over one and a half-decade of experience in broadcast and multimedia journalism. Before joining as the faculty in IIMC Dhenkanal, he has worked in ABP Digital, Times Now and various Bengali news channels. He contributes to a number of websites like Down-to-Earth as a freelancer. Mr. Pal is a Chevening scholar as well.
The hands-on-training workshop was aimed to equip students with tools and strategies to identify and debunk fake news.
Ms. Abhilasha Mishra and Ms. Swayam Sampurna Nanda, both 5th semester students of IMCJ programme, introduced Mr. Pal and proposed the vote of thanks respectively. Ms. Ruby Nanda, Assistant Professor, KIIT School of Mass Communication felicitated the guest and presented him KIIT Review. Dr. B. B. Dash, Course Coordinator and Dr. Anurag Sahu, Assistant Professor of KIIT School of Mass Communication were present during the Workshop.