Bringing digital power to journalists: AAJA-Asia Training Network partners with Google

BY SEAN LIM

Everybody loves the word ‘free’ whether it’s the critical portion in ‘freedom’ or a ‘free’ gift. At AAJA-Asia, we have built the AAJA-Asia Training Network to bring free digital tools and techniques to journalists in the Asia region to empower their storytelling.

It comes out of a partnership we’ve strengthened over the years with Google News Initiative to support journalism’s evolution in the 21st century.

Though it’s a service particularly targeted for our members, our training workshops are also open to all journalists and media professionals regardless of AAJA affiliation as part of our outreach efforts. Every year, we select a distinct group of AAJA members to become trainers in the latest tools including: advanced web search, translation, data extraction, mapping, AI, machine learning and image verification.

You can expect to learn how to quickly access data or information through deep search without having to go through information requests. Images that are suspect can be verified as real or fake before getting into your story. And you can easily show where stories happen by building interactive maps. These are just some of the tools that our training network allows to bring more accurate and compelling stories in a faster amount of time.

Moreover, in our region where journalists are often under-resourced and face oppressive opposition, technology can level out the playing field.

“The AAJA-Asia community is important as ever,” says AAJA Asia Chapter President Oanh Ha, “at a time when some journalists around the region risk their lives daily to tell the area’s most important stories under challenging and sometimes repressive conditions.”

Training sessions are often three hours long held at Google campuses across the Asia region or at individual newsrooms based on special request. Our AAJA trainer Selina Cheng recently instructed a group of about 20 staffers of CNN Digital at their offices in Hong Kong.

“I hoped the people could come out of the sessions knowing a little bit more about maximizing the tools they may already use everyday for reporting. I’m glad that organizations like AAJA are partnering with mega-companies like Google to provide training to reporters and editors, combining global expertise with local context,” Selina said.

At the Bloomberg Tokyo office, a weekend session in its newsroom provided a hands-on environment with a high level of engagement between the trainer and the participants. AAJA-Asia Tokyo leader Marika Katanuma, who is also a reporter at Bloomberg, said: “The session was a great opportunity for the participants to get their hands on tools that will be valuable for their careers such as fact check tools. One reporter commented that he liked the real-life examples and another media professional said it was very informative and practical.”

For more information about the AAJA-Asia Training Network and to learn how to attend a session or become a trainer, please visit www.aaja-asia.org. 🗨️

Sean Lim is the manager of the AAJA-Asia Training Network. He is a freelance writer and former news anchor based in Seoul, South Korea.