MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, will be launching local and international fellowships aimed at equipping journalists here and abroad with skills and knowledge to understand what disinformation is, how it works, and how journalists can effectively help address this problem.

As part of Rappler’s many programs to fight disinformation, the fellowships seek to foster collaboration among journalists, anchored on a shared goal of fighting for truth and combating disinformation.

To effectively hold platforms accountable, journalists need to know what disinformation is, understand how new gatekeepers operate, and how technology and algorithms shape the world.

The Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship is being offered to community journalists in the Philippines in honor of the late investigative reporter Aries Rufo, who wrote for Newsbreak and Rappler on various issues, such as the church, judiciary, and elections. The fellowship is being offered in partnership with Journalism for Nation Building Foundation (JNBF).

The #FactsMatter Journalism Fellowship is for journalists in Southeast Asian countries. The fellowship seeks to provide international fellows the opportunity to focus on disinformation and witness first-hand how information operations influence and shape narratives, and then possibly draw similarities or contrasts with their own countries.

Both fellowships are being supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Fifteen (15) Filipino community journalists will be chosen for the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship. The program will run from July 2021 to May 2022.

Six (6) journalists in Southeast Asia will be chosen for the #FactsMatter Journalism Fellowship. The program will run from July 2021 to April 2022.

Deadline for applications is on June 30, 2021.

A series of training sessions will be conducted by senior editors of Rappler and other key members of its research and data teams. These will cover a wide range of topics that will help journalists understand and address disinformation, and do public interest journalism. Fellows will work with Rappler staff in the months leading to the 2022 national elections. Both international and local journalists will see how disinformation and political propaganda, particularly on social media, can be even more widespread at this time.

Local fellows will work on fact-check pieces, research, and write on election-related and other current issues, and produce a disinformation story contextualized in their province. International fellows will also work on fact-check stories, and by the end of the fellowship, produce an in-depth or investigative piece related to the state of disinformation in their respective countries.

To assist in the data-gathering, research, and writing outputs, a monthly stipend of P12,500 for 10 months will be made available to community journalists. For Southeast Asian fellows, a stipend of $1,000 will be given in two tranches.

A local journalist in the Philippines based outside Metro Manila working in print, television, radio, or online media organizations. Also open to freelancers.

For more details about the fellowship program, you may download this information pack.

Local journalists may apply for the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship below.

For more details about the fellowship program, you may download this information pack.

International journalists may apply below:

– Rappler.com