Hetq will offer training in investigative journalism from September 2020

Hetq has developed a project to set up a training centre, known as the Hetq Media Factory. The events at the centre will consist of topical training courses on investigative journalism and will begin next September.

In order to prepare for the launch of these events, Hetq asked CFI to organise some training sessions for the trainers. The training was initially scheduled to take place over five days in Yerevan (Armenia) but was moved online due to the current coronavirus health crisis.

The original programme was adapted and divided into 13 modules, each lasting two hours, which took place between 15 April and 7 May and were led by journalist and trainer Robert Bourgoing. Robert used various tools including screen sharing, remote control of the participants' computers, private and group chat functions and video recording of each session.
A private Facebook group has also been created to enable the sharing of useful videos, links and resources.

Advanced information verification techniques

The sessions drew heavily on the work that the participants are currently focused on and the situation in Armenia, with exercises in drafting requests, research and information verification.

At the participants' request, the content originally intended for the four final sessions was updated to include training that focused more specifically on advanced fact-checking techniques of websites (content, agenda, who is actually responsible for the content) and Facebook and Twitter profiles.

All the English training materials as well as the video recordings of the sessions were shared to allow participants to adapt them to their individual situation and create their own training modules.