Journalists and fact-checkers are invited to participate in an online training course “Learning to Counter Disinformation”, offered by The Reckoning Project, an international initiative dedicated to documenting war crimes, and Media Diversity Institute (MDI).
The course offers an opportunity to both learn about documenting and reporting on war crimes, with an emphasis on identifying and combating disinformation, and put it into practice.
Training Overview
Participants will:
- Examine specific cases of war crimes and violations of international law
- Learn how to identify false information
- Analyse the language, structure, and key characteristics of disinformation content
Who Can Apply
The training is open to journalists and fact-checkers from Eastern and Central Europe, the Balkans, and the South Caucasus.
Format
The online course will consist of approximately 16 hours of predominantly practical work delivered over four days and is designed for a small group of participants. Around seven journalists will be selected through a competitive application process.
The Reckoning Project will provide training materials, including legal and policy documents, practical case studies, and expert insights developed through the project’s work. These resources will help participants more effectively identify disinformation and counter its spread.
MDI will provide its practical expertise in conflict reporting, prebunking and debunking disinformation.
Practical Component
During the training, each participant will produce two media pieces, which can include multimedia and SMM posts, to be published in their home country’s media landscape. The best will be nominated for prestigious international journalism awards. The pieces will focus on disinformation related to war crimes and accountability processes, including:
- “Evacuation” as a misleading term used to describe forced displacement and deportation;
- filtration as a mechanism of control rather than merely a checkpoint procedure;
- occupation-era education and the erasure of identity;
- children’s camps and narratives of “recreation” or “medical treatment”;
- the laundering of propaganda through child protection systems, media outlets, and guardianship and adoption mechanisms;
- the use of winter as a weapon;
- attacks on evacuation infrastructure.
Training Dates: July 5–20
Practical component: Beginning of August 2026
Register by 1 July here
