The COVID-19 pandemic presented a multitude of challenges worldwide. People grappled with illnesses, and personal losses, and the rampant spread of misinformation concerning food supplies, death tolls, and vaccines, among others, only made matters worse. Geetika Vashishata, an Adjunct Faculty member at Manipal Institute of Communications in Manipal, Karnataka, and a media educator, had an…
Saniya is a media student of Carmel College [Autonomous] Mala, Thrissur district, Kerala. She may be twenty years old but her dreams and ambitions soar beyond her age. Juggling various roles, she is not just a student but also serves as a Project Assistant at the NGO Kites India, a Communications Specialist at Tale8, and…
In Kashmir’s Baramulla district, about 20 young girls from Gund Khawaja Qasim and nearby villages gather once or twice a month in a friendly space called Darbar in local parlance. Here, they share, interact, and discuss issues concerning them and their community. This initiative was started by Maryam Yousuf, a Computer Applications graduate from Government…
Dr. Afsana Rashid resides in Kashmir’s capital city – Srinagar. She has worked with prominent national and local newspapers such as The Tribune, Kashmir Times, and Milli Gazette, and is also part of academia as an Assistant Professor at the Media Education Research Centre, University of Kashmir. Despite a rich and extensive professional journey, Dr.…
Kamala hails from Jammapudur, a village that lies at the foothills of the lush green Jawadhu Hills of Tamil Nadu. It is an interior village primarily inhabited by farmer families. Young and ambitious at 50, Kamala routinely goes on the field as part of her association with an NGO, where she works closely with the…
Prashant Kumar is a 24-year-old resident of Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh who participated in FactShala in 2020 and has helped spread the tools and techniques he learned about to at least 500 other people. He has achieved this in collaboration with FactShala trainer Gaurav Sharma, a Meerutbased fact-checker, researcher, and journalist. Show More Prashant first attended…
In more than six districts of North Bengal, WhatsApp groups have been formed comprising of students, teachers, workers, house makers, men, and women who sift through and debunk the fake news and misinformation spreading in their networks to protect the public from its harmful effects. Show More Tuhin Mandal, a former school teacher and activist…
Karishma Choudhary a 23-year-old postgraduate Geology student was an intern in Radio Kamalvaani 90.4 FM, a community radio station in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. During her internship, a radio program on media literacy on misinformation and fake news was aired for their local audiences, aiming to empower them with approaches and skills to consume information critically, especially…
UzmaAlam, a social worker based in Kolkata, used to share every message that she received on her WhatsApp. As someone working in an organization dedicated to social good, she believed it was her duty to spread information that appeared convincing or beneficial to as many people as possible. It never occurred to her that such…
Neha Tiwari, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Karim City College of Jamshedpur, has always been troubled by kidnappings, communal incidents, mob lynching and the killing of the women as part of witch-hunting in the Jharkhand state Neha has come to believe that one of the major drivers of these incidents in…