South Asia has a vibrant media landscape; however, coverage of religion is often limited and only explored within the framework of major political events. Journalists are regularly censored by the government and often targeted by extremist and secularist groups for their work, preventing them from shining a light on issues affecting religious minorities.
ICFJ will bring together a group of journalists and digital influencers in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and enable them to illuminate the underlying factors fueling religious persecution.
The program aims to create a lasting regional network dedicated to engaging audiences around news perspectives that embrace diversity and advance religious freedoms.
Read the Stories Produced From the Program
About the Program
The program offers a combination of virtual in-person trainings, mentorship and grant opportunities to journalists, digital influencers, bloggers, social media activists, and citizen journalists in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The program activities will include the following as they relate to covering religious freedom:
- Eight-week online course focused on the fundamentals of reporting on religion
- Five-day workshop for training on practical skill-building
- Virtual mentorship for participants of online course and workshop
- Reporting grants for program participants
- Webinars on religious freedom featuring participant stories
- Creation of a Reporting on Religion Toolkit
The online training course will be offered in five languages: English, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil and Sinhalese.
We exposed corruption and human rights abuses working in a cross-border network supported by ICFJ.
— Lisseth Boon, Venezuela