SUPPORT FOR WOMEN JOURNALISTS IN COUNTERING MISINFORMATION & DISINFORMATION IN THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION.

CUTS International

Established in 1983, Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS International) is a non-profit non-governmental organization, engaged in promoting consumer sovereignty in the framework of social justice, economic equality and environmental balance, within and across borders. It is a leading Southern voice working on three verticals: Rules-based trade; Effective regulation; and Good governance. More information is available here: http://www.cuts-international.org/pdf/Programme_Brochure.pdf

CUTS operate out of 14 Centers spread across India, Africa, South East Asia, Europe and USA. More information is available here: http://www.cuts-international.org.

CUTS Calcutta Resource Center (CUTS CRC), more details available at (https://www.cuts-crc.org/).

Expected Outcomes

  • Enhanced Level of Media Literacy amongst the Participants.
  • A well trained journalist fraternity to counter misinformation, disinformation, fake news by appropriate use of analytical tools and techniques
  • A collective voice against workplace harassment and digital trolls targeting women journalists
  • A cross-border network of women journalists working towards presenting authentic information before the audience and security of the Indo-Pacific region.

Key Resource Group*

Name Organisation About Him/her (Short Biography) Nationality
Ms Rogena Akter Prothom Alo Rogena Akter is a woman human rights defender and a senior journalist with the Bengali Newspaper Prothom Alo. She has extensively reported on human rights issues in Bangladesh and has received several international and national awards for her investigative reports. Bangladesh
Ms Namrata Sharma CIJ, Nepal Namrata Sharma is the chairperson of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, Nepal. She is an editor and senior journalist with Nepali magazine “Women’s Voice.” She has over twenty years of experience in Nepal’s print media and writes regularly on gender issues and human rights. Nepal
Ms Smita Sharma Independent PhotoJournalist Smita Sharma is an award winning photojournalist and visual storyteller. She is a TED Fellow as well as the IWMF Reporting Fellow. She is the recipient of Amnesty International Media award for Photojournalism, One World Media Award for her short film “Rebel with a Cause” and Exceptional Women of Excellence award by Women Economic Forum. Her work has been exhibited and shown globally including at the UN Headquarters in New York. She is currently based in Delhi and reports regularly on critical human rights, gender and social issues in her own community and in the Global South. India
Ms Suhasini Haidar The Hindu Suhasini Haidar is the Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, one of India’s oldest and most respected national dailies where she writes regularly on Foreign policy issues. Prior to this, Suhasini was Foreign Affairs editor and prime time anchor for India’s leading 24-hr English news channel CNN-IBN. Over the course of her 28-year reporting career, Suhasini has covered the most challenging stories & conflicts from the most diverse regions including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Lebanon and Syria. In India, she has covered the foreign affairs beat for over a decade and her domestic assignments include political profiles and in-depth reportage from conflict zones including Kashmir. India
Ms Priyadarshini sen Independent Journalist Priyadarshini Sen is a Delhi-based independent journalist who writes about religion, human rights and social justice for Indian and US-based media. Over a decade, Priyadarshini has worked at well-known media outlets in India such as Times of India, Hindustan Times, India Today and Outlook and reported extensively in Los Angeles, Athens, Thessaloniki, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and many small towns across India. In 2015, she was also selected by the World Press Institute in the United States for a fellowship awarded to top ten international journalists following which she was awarded a scholarship by the University of Southern California where she specialized in religion reporting and embraced new media skills. India
Mr Bharat Kumar Nayak Logical Indian Mr Bharat Nayak is the founding editor of The Logical Indian, an independent and public-spirited digital media platform for Indian millennials. He has been heading the newsroom during the formative years of the organization and has relentlessly worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial’s in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly. India
Ms Divya Chandra BoomLive Divya Chandra is Producer and Trainer at BOOM FactCheck. She conducts training sessions and LIVE workshops to teach the art of fact-checking. Previously, she was Correspondent-Fact Check at The Quint. She did her Masters in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune. When not fact-checking, you can find her at a cafe next door. India
Mr Mrinal Kumar Chatterjee IIMC Mrinal Chatterjee is a media educator, author and trainer from Odisha, India and works as a professor and center head in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. Prior to that, he worked as a journalist with SAMBAD, A leading Oriya daily, for one and a half decade. He has also worked in Radio and Television, and has written scripts for several TV serials.Dr. Chatterjee also writes fiction in Oriya. He has published over 12 books, novels and short-story collections. India
Ms Vasanthi Hariprakash Pickle Jar Vasanthi Hariprakash is an award-winning radio anchor & journalist, columnist and audio-video content creator. Her dynamic career as a media professional has taken her across the bustling newsrooms of The New Indian Express, the quiet soundproof studios of Radio City Bangalore & All India Radio, on the field as a special correspondent for NDTV 24/7, and to faraway lands such as Laos and Vietnam as a documentary anchor for BBC World News. India
Ms Monideepa Banerjie NDTV Monideepa Banerjie was formerly NDTV’s Executive Editor – East, and is currently based in Kolkata. She is well known in the media industry for her television reporting. India
Mr Joydeep Dasgupta News Sense Joydeep Dasgupta is a Kolkata based Multi Media Journalist and Documentary filmmaker with nearly 15 years of experience. He is the Founder of News Sense, a unified public service platform for independent and unbiased news. In recognition of his work for highlighting gender issues through Web Journalism, he was also awarded the prestigious United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) supported National Laadli Media and Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity in the year 2016. India
Ms Swati Bhattacharjee Anandabazar Patrika Swati Bhattacharjee is Senior Assistant Editor with Ananda Bazar Patrika, a leading Bengali daily . She holds a PhD in Social Science from Tata Institute of Social Studies, Mumbai, an MSc in Media Research from University of Stirling, UK. The broad theme of Swati’s journalism is poverty reduction. She focuses on health, education, women’s self-help movements, women’s land rights, and other issues of gender justice. India
Ms Dilrukshi Handunnetti Centre for Investigative Reporting,Sri Lanka Dilrukshi Handunnetti is an international award-winning investigative journalist and a lawyer from Sri Lanka. She works closely with media rights and human rights organizations especially with a gender focus. She is also the co-convener of South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) – Sri Lanka Chapter and functions as the executive director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative reporting (CIR). As a recipient of many prestigious journalism fellowships, she has broken stories on grand corruption and crime, conflict and communities, and dedicated significant time to report on women, children, health and environment. Her work has appeared in UK Guardian, New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Humanitarian, Mongabay and many others. Sri Lanka

Contact Us

CONSUMER UNITY & TRUST SOCIETY (CUTS)
D–217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302016, Rajasthan, India
Ph: +91 141-2282821/22/23
Fax: +91 141 2282485
Email: cuts@cuts.org

For any immediate assistance related to this project, please contact Mr. Arnab Ganguly: +91 9874410391, Mrs. Sucharita Banerjee: +919051745664, Shaswata Mukherjee: +9330679490/8017705582