The relationship between journalism and social media is crucial to the public's right to information and media organisations should work with social media companies like Facebook to combat misinformation and cyberbullying, experts said at a virtual event today.

The Centre for Communication Action Bangladesh (C-CAB) organised the webinar to mark the conclusion of "Facebook Fundamentals for News, a digital training programme for Bangladeshi journalists", said a press release today.

The app-based course, delivered by C-CAB with support from Meta (Facebook) Journalism Project, BigSpring and Colombo-based Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has trained more than 1,000 local journalists since its launch in August 2021.

The course completion event was attended by Troy Beckman, director of Communications, USAID Bangladesh, Lubain Masum, political process advisor, Office of Democracy Rights and Governance at USAID Bangladesh, Paola Castro Neiderstam, second secretary, Human Rights, Democracy, and Gender Equality, Embassy of Sweden, Zafar Sobhan, editor, Dhaka Tribune, and Jude W Genilo, professor, Media Studies and Journalism, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.

Senior Facebook, BigSpring and CIR executives spoke about the project, while Syed Zain Al-Mahmood, executive director of C-CAB, delivered the welcome address.

Around 50 journalists out of the 1,071 who have successfully completed the course also attended and several of them spoke about their experiences in the programme, said the release.

The mobile curriculum, available in both English and Bangla, includes skills on online safety, best practices on Facebook, and how to best leverage video on the platform. The program can be accessed via mobile and web, added the release.

Anjali Kapoor, director of News Partnerships, Meta (Facebook) Asia Pacific, said, "This program is a good example of Meta's commitment to supporting quality journalism and providing tools and training to journalists globally".

Syed Zain Al-Mahmood, executive director at Centre for Communication Action Bangladesh said, "We are proud to have issued more than 1,000 certificates to journalists who have acquired important digital storytelling skills and safety know-how. More than 50% of the course graduates are rural journalists, which shows that we were able to reach journalists across the country".

Karim Waheed, digital editor at The Daily Star, who was one of the first journalists to complete the Facebook Fundamentals for News course, said journalists working in today's 24-hour news cycle needed digital skills that allowed them to balance speed with accuracy.

"The Facebook Fundamentals programme teaches important storytelling and safety skills that Bangladeshi journalists need," he said.

The Meta Journalism Project works with publishers around the world to strengthen the connection between journalists and the communities they serve. It also helps address the news industry's core business challenges.

C-CAB has been working on both the supply and demand sides of the news ecosystem in Bangladesh, ranging from building capacity in mobile journalism, conflict-sensitive journalism, and data journalism to training young people in media literacy.



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