Covering COVID-19: verifying facts & reporting on solutions

Date: December 1, 2020 – December 15, 2020
Location: Online

Thanks to the swarm of misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus, journalists are facing difficult challenges when it comes to reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.

This course by Transitions Online (TOL) is designed for journalistsjournalism students, and aspiring fact-checkers who want to learn how best to report during the current infodemic. Its integrative approach provides the opportunity to talk with experts, receive mentoring, and develop valuable skills.

Participants will get to hear from experts about how to combat the threat of COVID-19 disinformation, debunk myths, and report on the global health crisis from a solutions-based perspective. The first session will focus on the best practices of exposing disinformation. The second will look at building public trust by reporting on solutions to the pandemic’s challenges.

Enroll if you want to:

  1. Get better at debunking and fact-checking COVID-related disinformation
  2. Learn how to make your audience more resilient through news literacy
  3. Give people hope by reporting on solutions to complex problems
  4. Get professional editorial mentoring and a chance to get published

Those who take part in 80 percent of the course activities will receive a TOL completion certificate.

Upcoming workshops

Following the live sessions are a series of workshops where participants will receive mentoring and the chance to collaborate with others. These workshops are designed for participants to gain important professional skills, such as coming up with a good pitch.

Are you from Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia or Ukraine? You may enjoy these follow-up workshops that will look at these issues from a more regional perspective. Language translation will be available.

Below is the schedule for the workshops.

If you are from the Balkans:

Session 4: Tuesday, Dec. 8 4:00PM (GMT+1)

Reporting on solutions – practical workshop REGISTER NOW!

Session 5: Tuesday, Dec. 15 4:00PM (GMT+1)

Writing a great pitch – editorial mentoring

If you are from Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova:

Session 4: Wednesday, Dec. 9 4:00PM (GMT+1)

Reporting on solutions – practical workshop REGISTER NOW!

Session 5: Wednesday, Dec. 15 4:00PM (GMT+1)

Writing a great pitch – editorial mentoring

Recording of past webinars and information about them is available on TOL Education website.