This project for rising media professionals addresses current trends and technologies to detect and combat disinformation and deceptive news.  It will highlight the importance of investigative journalism, fact-checking, and myth-busting in countering misleading information and demonstrate the serious impact of disinformation campaigns on domestic publics.  Participants will examine strategies designed to encourage greater public awareness of disinformation.  They will explore the role of government agencies, NGOs, academia, and traditional and social media in the fight against the proliferation of deceptive media and the dissemination of disinformation.  Participants will also examine strategies that support responsible and ethical reporting in an increasingly complex information environment.  As a part of IVLP’s “Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists” series, this project includes a graduate or professional-level academic workshop focused on countering disinformation.  

This project will explore the ways the U.S. media evolved and adopted to create spaces for a free, fair, and self-regulated media for a strong and stable democracy in the United States.  Eight to ten Pakistani journalists will explore U.S. efforts to nurture and strengthen such freedom of expression through this program.  The participants will examine the rights and responsibilities of a free press in a democracy while observing the operational practices, standards, and institutions of media. 

This project examines best practices in combating trafficking in persons, focusing on both forced labor and sex trafficking. Participants will examine U.S. legislation, visa regulations, and enforcement against and prosecution of traffickers; initiatives to identify, protect, assist and provide services for trafficking victims; efforts to raise awareness through the media; and local, national, and international cooperative efforts to combat trafficking in persons. Participants will discuss strategies to end trafficking, both domestically and internationally, with local, state, and federal government agencies, law enforcement officials, educators, NGO leaders, faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups.