Juliet Buna, broadcast journalist and fact-checker at the News Verifier Africa has been selected alongside 29 other journalists from West Africa, for the 2024 cohort of the prestigious 2024 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking Fellowship.
The Kwame Karikari Fellowship, now in its seventh year is being implemented by DUBAWA, a transnational fact-checking and verification platform initiated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)
The fellowship, supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), will provide participants with a valuable opportunity to engage in a rigorous four-day training exercise conducted by top-class faculty.
The Kwame Karikari Fellowship operates on a tripartite structure, concentrating on the people, the journalist, and the newsroom. Existing newsrooms act as conduits for the dissemination of fact-checks, benefiting from close managerial support.
Journalists, who typically focus on day-to-day breaking news, will acquire the ability to seamlessly integrate fact-checking and verification into their reporting through specialised training, close mentoring, and editorial support.
The fellowship is scheduled to span six months, providing a comprehensive and immersive experience for participants to enhance their skills.
Speaking at the beginning of Fellowship training, The Chief Executive Officer of Centre for Investigative Journalism, Dapo Olorunyomi, said fact-checking is needed to strengthen democracy and hold leaders accountable.
He said journalism must play three key roles of ensuring accountability, agenda setting and gatekeeping.
While stating that “there is information warfare,” he charged the selected fellows to promote democracy through fact-checking of information to promote democracy.
