In an attempt to curb the fake news and ensure quality journalism in India, Facebook entered into a partnership with the Chennai-based Asian School of Journalism (ACJ). “The association with ACJ reflects our commitment to support the journalism ecosystem by training future journalists,” said Campbell Brown, Facebookʼs Global Head of News Partnerships.
“By partnering with ACJ, Facebook that has 270 million users in India will be able to help train journalism students on fact-based and high integrity journalism in the digital age,” the social media giant said in a statement.
The program will support the five students from ACJ in the field of print, new media, radio and television.
“We are happy to partner with the Facebook Journalism Project. It will provide valuable hands-on experience and the expertise to distinguish informative and trustworthy news,” said Sashi Kumar, Chairperson, ACJ.
Facebook also took the opportunity to announce its collaboration with the Mumbai-based BOOMLive, an independent digital journalism initiative. “Through our partnership with BOOMLive, we hope to encourage the systemic growth of fact-checking on all platforms,” Brown added.
BOOMLive is certified by the Poynter Institute, the international fact-checking network. “Following fact-checking in English during the Karnataka pilot stage, BOOMLive will now also provide fact checking capabilities in Hindi and Bengali, and will also fact-check photos and videos, in addition to article links,” Facebook noted.