ANNIE School Net: Campus fact-checking project in Asia
Fifteen educational institutions from various Asian countries will launch school-based fact-checking newsrooms modeled after Annie Lab in mid-2024
We are proud to announce the launch of ANNIE School Net and its campus fact-checking project in collaboration with 15 educational institutions from various Asian countries (a couple more schools might join later this year).
This endeavour, outlined below, signifies our collective effort to empower students with analytical skills, logical reasoning, and effective content creation by employing digital tools and techniques used in journalistic fact-checking.
Key objectives and activities
Establish student-driven, fact-checking newsrooms at school by mid-2024.
Build a sustainable operation that students could lead in the long run, even after the initial experiment ends at the end of 2025.
Foster critical thinking and information verification skills through experiential learning opportunities.
Investigate questionable claims about socially important topics such as public health, food safety, racism, elections, the environment, and others.
Make the fact-checking content publicly available on various platforms.
Regularly produce fact-checking content beginning mid-2024, following the six-month preparation period.
Participating schools
India: M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women | O.P Jindal Global University (Centre for Media Development and Communication Rights)
Indonesia: Universitas Airlangga | Politeknik Tempo | Rumah Belajar Semi Palar | Bandung Islamic University | Universitas Multimedia Nusantara
Japan: CLARK Memorial International High School (クラーク記念国際高等学校)
Malaysia: SABK Maahad Ehyak Diniah Islamiah | New Era University College
Philippines : De La Salle University Dasmariñas (Green FM) | Marikina Science High School (The Shoeland x Ang Sapatusan)
Thailand: British International School of Phuket
Vietnam: Van Lang University | University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City)
Why fact-checking newsrooms?
This project is modelled after a few fact-checking initiatives involving students.
Our own Annie Lab at the University of Hong Kong is naturally one of them. FactRakers at the University of the Philippines is another. The “Is this legit?” project by MediaWise in the United States is also our inspiration, especially for high school students.
The pedagogical method we adopt here is often called a ‘teaching hospital’ model, where students get trained and work as fact-checkers to inform the public.
The idea is that just like medical students learn essential skills by practising medicine in a school-affiliated hospital while still studying, we believe our students will benefit greatly when they engage in an environment that simulates real-world media outlets.
Of course, establishing something like this presents some practical challenges, and that’s where our network’s support system helps. This will be a collaborative effort through which students and educators learn from each other.
We will report how our project is going once in a while through this newsletter.
If you’re a media educator interested in getting involved, please let us know via e-mail (contact@annieasia.org).
[About Annie Lab]
Annie Lab is a student-driven, fact-checking newsroom established in 2019 by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong and ANNIE (Asian Network of News & Information Educators).
Annie Lab is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). It is committed to political non-partisanship, fairness, accuracy, transparency, and professional rigour required by IFCN. It also became a member of the Vaccine Safety Net by the World Health Organization in November 2023.