“If a claim online makes you want to scream, cry or buy, take a breath before sharing”
Linda Austin is an award-winning editor and journalism educator who is schooled in instructional design and experienced in developing e-learning, training and curricula for learners globally. Based in Indiana, U.S.A, she has worked with world-renowned institutions as a journalism professor and trainer.
She has taught journalism at universities in the United States, Myanmar, China, and Romania and on a floating campus from San Diego to Cape Town. She has also led more than 179 highly rated training events – online and in-person – reaching more than 12,000 journalists globally.
Recently, Linda was in Nepal to train Nepali journalists on how to identify, search, monitor, verify and report responsibly on false online information. Nepal Live Today spoke to her, and excerpts follow:
What brings you to Nepal?
I am here as a Fulbright Specialist, which is a program of the U.S.government that sends educators around the world. I was invited to come here by a local NGO, Freedom Forum ‒ Nepal, and the Fulbright Commission in Nepal to train Nepali journalists in how to combat false information. I taught workshops in Kathmandu and Hetauda, a provincial capital about 87 kilometers southwest of Kathmandu. I have been in Nepal for almost three weeks.
