News verification workshop for young journalists

Workshops on verifying fake news and rumours are being been held on various digital platforms.

Preneur Lab Youth and Innovation Trust and the Friedrich Noman Foundation for Freedom organise the workshop titled 'Digital Verification Workshop' for young journalists at Krishibid Institute in the capital on Thursday.

The organisers said, “The amount of fake news and rumours on the internet is increasing worldwide. Rumours can result in violence and death. In 2019, a total of 25 people were injured due to rumours. At least seven people died. In the coronavirus situation in 2020, rumours have increased in the virtual world. This event has been organised to discuss the importance of verifying rumours and false information."

Senior lecturer Saimum Reza of BRAC University and journalist Mizanur Rahman were among the trainers. The workshop discussed photo verification, news verification and internet news archive verification. Training was provided on other topics including the use of geo-locations for social media audits.

Certificates were later distributed among the participants. Country representative of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Bangladesh, Nazmul Hossain and chief executive of PreneurLab Arif Nezami were present at the occasion.