European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) and EUFactcheck / STUDFACTCHECK at the Institute of Philology and Journalism
The association was founded in Brussels in 1990. The EJTA is an official
network of authorized European centers for the training of professional
journalists. The organization implements various educational and research
projects, including those supported by the European Commission (Erasmus+),
and organizes events targeted at mobility and cooperation of professors and
students. It also represents its members’ interests in various international
associations, such as the European Commission, UNESCO and journalists’ and
editors’ associations across Europe.
The Association brings together 80 European academic institutions. First of all,
we should mention such leading European centers for training journalists and
mass communication specialists as the Universities of Turku, Tampere
(Finland), Stockholm University, Gothenburg University, Linnaeus University
(Kalmar, Sweden), Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland),
University of Leuven (Brussels branch, Belgium), Universities of Lincoln,
Newcastle, Strudfordshire, Northampton, Sheffield (United Kingdom),
University of Paris-Dauphine, Paris School of Journalism, University of
Bordeaux (France), Dortmund University of Technology, Stuttgart Media
University, German School of Journalism, Munich (Germany).
The members of the Association include 6 Russian universities – Moscow State
University, St. Petersburg State University, North Caucasian Federal University
(NCFU), South Ural State University (SUSU), Far Eastern Federal University
(FEFU). In July 2019, Lobachevsky University (UNN)has joined the EJTA.
EUFactcheck is currently the EJTA’s main training project. The aim of the
project is to provide future journalists with practical skills in the identification
of the authenticity of information and the weeding out of unreliable facts in their
professional work.
About 150 students and professors from 20 European educational institutions
are involved in this project. Within the EUFactcheck project, students analyze
the media campaigns surrounding global events (G20 summits, European
Parliament elections, U.S. presidential elections) to determine the credibility of
reports and publish the results on the project website as well as in relevant
international publications (in English).
The Institute of Philology and Journalism (IPJ) of Lobachevsky University was
invited to participate in the project. In October 2020, a working group was
established at the Institute of Philology and Journalism under the supervision of
Ludmila Makarova, Deputy Director for Teaching Work, Ph.D., Associate
Professor at the Department of Journalism. The curators of the project are
Victoria Bolshakova (Lecturer at the Department of Journalism) and Nikolai
Pershin (Postgraduate student of Jouralism Department). Currently, 15 IPJ
students (bachelor and master) and 2 IBBM (Institute of Biology)-students
(bachelor) take part in it.
During the preparation, students have to learn about the media and social media
verification methodology used in this project.
Between November 2020 and March 2023, the students have prepared 23
independent research projects, including 7 collaborations with students from
Germany, JADE University of Applied Sciences, Wilhelmshaven, and Italy
(Sacred Heart Catholic University School of Journalism, Milan).
Thus, UNN participation in the EUFactcheck project allows teachers and
students to master the latest technologies for verifying data and to use European
experience in the training process and in their professional skills as defined in
UNN educational standards in the field of journalism (Bachelor’s and Master’s
degrees).
On March 17, 2021, we firstly reported our achievements, results and
professional experience of our project during the master class at «Tochka
kipenia» in UNN. Our leading professors and students presented the features of
the EUFactcheck project and the technology of data verification used in the
process of working with media and social media materials. It should be noted
that the event attracted the interest not only of the students of UNN: the
lecturers and students of the Russian Islamic Institute (RII, Kazan) and the
Kazan State Institute of Culture (KSIC) also took part in the event via
videoconference.
In 2021, students from the Institute of Biology and Biomedicine of UNN joined
EUFactcheck, this was made a project widely known in Lobachevsky
University.
Currently, students from the Udmurt State University (Izhevsk) have
expressed their desire to join the project in cooperation with students from the
Institute of Philology and Journalism.
Since March 2022, the data verification project at Lobachevsky University was
named as #STUDFACTCHECK.
Links to the researches carried out by IPJ students as part of the EU
Factcheck project:
Blog: we decided to investigate and dive into murder statistics
Blog: Our search for truth in the hogweed case
Blog: How we tried to check yet another pompous claim made by Donald Trump
Mostly true: “Russian universities fail to offer world class education”
UNCHECKABLE: “Russian workers are twice less productive than Italian ones”
False: “The average monthly retirement pension in Latvia is 77 thousand rubles”
Blog: Is it easy to be old? What it is like to be pensioners in Russia and Latvia
True: “The roar of traffic and aircraft are linked to negative health effects”
Blog: What does loud noise really do to our body and soul?
Mostly False: “OSCE sent way less observers to german elections in 2021 than in 2017”
Is it possible to bring back a mammoth?
Mostly true: “Teachers’ salaries in Germany are higher than the national average”