The Center for Investigative Reporting- Sri Lanka in collaboration with Media Unlimited – Pakistan conducted a virtual training on Facebook Safety for 60 South Asian journalists on August 18.
The workshop, a part of a webinar series themed “Future of Journalism in South Asia” was supported by the Meta Journalism Project (MJP).
The training covered online safety, bullying and harassment, verification and impersonation and provided an opportunity for the participants to learn about online challenges and best practices in online engagements.
The training was conducted by Charmaine Fernandes and Shasha Edwards from the Meta Journalism Project (MJP). Language facilitation was provided by senior journalists cum trainers who covered five regional languages, enhancing the learning opportunity.
Program facilitators were Ruhul Amin Rushd (Bangladesh), Rajneesh Bhandari (Nepal), Shahzeb Ahmed (Pakistan) and K.M. Rasool and Rifthi Ali (Sri Lanka).
Participants were welcomed by Kamal Siddiqi, Director, Media Unlimited, Pakistan.
Yu Yu Din, Strategic Partner Manager, APAC News Partnership of Meta, introduced the Journalist Safety Hub to participants and how to draw from the available tools and resources for a safe online experience.
Journalists posed many questions related to social media safety especially in their country contexts.
The first activity in this series – a webinar titled “Protecting Yourself Online” was held in July.
The series marks an important milestone in Meta’s engagement with South Asian journalists and brings over 300 journalists from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka together to virtually learn about the critical importance of online safety for the new generation of digitally engaged journalists.
The next webinar in the five-part virtual series is titled “Elevating Journalism Standards”, scheduled for September 15, 2022.
