Two renowned journalists and pioneers in factchecking in Asia, Govind Ethiraj, founder of IndiaSpend, FactChecker and BOOM, and Jency Jacob, Managing Editor of BOOM, will address over 60 Sri Lankan journalists on “Newsroom Leadership and Ethics” tomorrow, July 20, from 9.00 am – 11.00 am.
The two pioneers in media leadership will join a factchecking training series designed for local journalists and facilitated by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and BOOM to share expertise.
Govindraj Ethiraj is a television and print journalist counting over 25 years. A media entrepreneur whose public interest journalism ventures have sought to safeguard transparency, accuracy, and integrity of news, he founded BOOM (www.boomlive.in ), an independent journalism initiative that fights misinformation and strives to make internet safe. He also founded the award-winning IndiaSpend (www.indiaspend.org), a public interest journalism outfit which uses data to write and syndicate stories in areas like health, education, environment and the FactChecker (www.factchecker.in) which monitors media, politicians and other figures for accuracy.
Jency Jacob is BOOM’s Managing Editor and has worked with some of the top television and print networks in India. Jency manages a newsroom of enterprising factcheckers who are striving to keep social media and public space clear of misinformation in a bid to prevent real-life implications of disinformation.
Jency is famed for his journalistic excellence and is a regular speaker at various national and international events, often driving home the message of media’s role in countering disinformation and hate through credible and factual news stories.