Building India’s Largest Fact-Checking Network

The Google News Initiative India Training Network aims to support journalists and media educators across India in their fight against misinformation. Led by DataLEADS, the network has so far trained 21,000+ journalists, media educators, fact-checkers and journalism students in more than 10 languages across India, benefiting hundreds of newsrooms and universities. The network’s activities have also led to the launch of many key fact-checking initiatives, helped them become a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and resulted in an exponential surge in the number of fact-checking stories across languages and platforms. The initiative was launched in July 2018 through a partnership between Google, Internews, DataLEADS, with technical and programmatic support from BoomLive and Alt News, First Draft and Storyful.

Two Years On:
Combating Misinformation in India

Since July 2018, Google News Initiative India Training Network has trained 21,000+ journalists, media educators, fact-checkers and journalism students.


(Training numbers till October 1, 2020)

Building a Pan-India fact-checking training network

  1. JOURNEY STARTS

    MAY, 2018

    Google News Initiative India Training Network started with a curriculum sprint meet at Google office in Gurugram to develop course material for the fact-checking training.

  2. INTRODUCING THE NETWORK

    JUNE. 2018

    The network launched through a partnership between Google, Internews, DataLEADS, with technical and programmatic support from BoomLive, Alt News, First Draft and Storyful.

  3. FIRST TOT

    JULY 2018

    First Training of Trainers (ToT) conducted, followed by six more ToTs, onboarding 241 trainers and fact-checkers from all over India.

  4. PAN-INDIA TRAINING

    DECEMBER 2018

    5,000+ editors, reporters, educators and journalism students trained across India

  5. POLLCHECK

    FEBRUARY 2019

    A pan-India training series launched right before 2019 elections to support journalists covering the national elections. 28 roadshows conducted in 28 cities in 33 days training 1800+ participants

  6. DATA BOOT CAMP

    SEPTEMBER 2019

    Data Verification Boot Camp conducted for the network trainers at Google office, Gurugram

  7. IFCN MEET

    OCTOBER 2019

    IFCN Meet held in New Delhi to share with participants details about IFCN’s work and code of principles. The meet was attended by IFCN certified and non-certified organisations.

  8. IFCN SIGNATORIES

    JANUARY 2020

    The network activities led to the launch of many key fact-checking initiatives in India, helped them become a signatory to the IFCN and resulted in an exponential surge in the number of fact-checking stories across several languages and platforms.

  9. ONLINE TRAINING

    MARCH 2020

    Due to Covid-19 outbreak, the network successfully moved from in-person training to online training sessions

  10. WEBCAST ON COVID-19 INFODEMIC

    APRIL 2020

    Special Webinar series conducted in 12 different Indian languages on fighting the misinformation related to Covid-19

  11. Mental Well-being Webinar.

    MAY 2020

    Trauma literacy and mental well-being webinar was conducted for the Network trainers and fact-checkers.

  12. TOT E-MEET

    JULY 2020

    Seven ToT E-meets conducted to regroup and review ongoing trainings across India

  13. CROSSED THE 20,000 MARK

    AUGUST 2020

    The network has become one of the world’s biggest and most impactful fact-checking training networks, equipping a new generation of Indian journalists and media educators with tools and strategies to spot and debunk misinformation.

  14. Trauma Literacy ToT

    October 2020

    In collaboration with Dart Centre Asia Pacific, the Trauma Literacy ToT conducted for the network trainers to help them build capacity for resilience, collegial support and self-care.

  15. ToT Recertification

    October 2020

    Two-day recertification ToTs to verify the current competence of the network trainers in fact-checking training and to ensure that the network trainers remain up-to-date on current online verification tools and approaches.

  16. Celebrating Two Years of GNI India Training Network

    November 2020

    21,000+ journalists, journalism educators, fact-checkers, and media students trained in 475+ workshops in more than 10 languages across India since 2018, benefitting at least 1700 Indian newsrooms and universities.

Fact-checking Curriculum

The curriculum is developed by Indian and global experts, adapted to local needs and available in seven different languages.The key modules of curriculum are:



INTRODUCING THE NETWORK

The Google News Initiative India Training Network is one of the world's biggest and most impactful fact-checking training networks. It has equipped a new generation of more than 21,000 India journalists, media educators, fact-checkers and journalism students with tools and strategies to spot and debunk misinformation at a time when misinformation aided and abetted by social media is a growing problem that is threatening our lives and society.


#GNIINDIA2020

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Fighting Misinformation In Newsrooms And Beyond

From the Himalayan region of Ladakh to the southern state of Kerala and from remote areas of the northeast to the western coastal areas of India, the GNI India Training Network trainers have been conducting training in every state of India for the last two years, empowering media practitioners with key tools and strategies to identify and combat misinformation.

GNI India Training Network

IMPACT & LEARNING