Applications are open for Thomson Reuters Foundation Workshop. In an era of “post-truth”, fake news and propaganda, fact checking is more important than ever. Citizens need access to reliable news, based on evidence – particularly during election campaigns. Additionally, when the news agenda is dominated by claims, promises, and accusations made by politicians and the candidates vying to replace them.

However, providing quality, fact-checked coverage of an election can be a challenge. That is when newsrooms have limited resources and are under pressure from increasingly short deadlines. Professional media may also have to contend with a growing lack of transparency from government sources. Also, compete with unregulated “information sources” on social media.

Moreover, To address these challenges, the Thomson Reuters Foundation Workshop, is partnering with TRI Facts at Africa Check – Africa’s first independent fact-checking organization – to help African journalists and editors to fact-check their own election coverage.

The programme will provide skills, tools, and resources on fact-checking in an African context. It will look at how to develop and integrate evidence-based election coverage into existing newsrooms, and how to make the information engaging for an audience that might be fed up with the campaign.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation Workshop will feature

• A five-day workshop in Nairobi for journalists and editors, delivered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and TRI Facts. It will feature practical fact-checking and reporting exercises to equip participants with the skills. Also, they need to fact-check political claims during an election campaign and after elections.
•  Further, a selection will receive one-to-one support from experts at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Further, TRI Facts could involve setting up a “promise tracker” to follow up on what politicians say in the next campaign.
• Participants will also receive support on specific fact-checks, for claims that prove difficult to verify.

Eligibility for the Thomson Reuters Foundation Workshop

• • Journalists and editors working for domestic media in African countries with elections coming up in the near- to mid-term (preferably in 2017 or 2018).
  • You can be working in any medium – print, radio, TV, online
  • Applicants must be fluent in English
  • Applicants must have a minimum of one year’s experience. They should either be working full-time for a media organization, or a freelancer whose main work is journalism