Thomson Reuters Foundation 2025 Mentorship Programme for Newsrooms: Supporting AI Adoption.

Applications are now open for the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) Mentorship programme for newsrooms. As part of the Foundation’s work on media development, we are offering a mentoring programme to guide selected newsrooms in their journey to better understand, experiment and integrate technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to support key editorial and operational functions and be better equipped to counteract disinformation.

This innovative six-month programme will support newsrooms in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania to understand, experiment and adopt AI driven solutions ethically and enhance their editorial and operational efficiency. The programme offers:

● Tailored strategies for each newsroom’s needs

● Practical experience with AI tools

● Guidance from AI and journalism experts 

● In support of the AI adoption journey and in line with the newsroom’s needs, each participant newsroom will receive a moderate grant.

Eligibility Requirements

● Newsrooms that focus some or all of their content on producing original public interest journalism. This means their journalism should aim to inform the public about matters of relevance to their lives, well-being, and their rights and responsibilities as citizens

● Newsrooms that strive to produce balanced, fair and accurate journalism, which explores all sides of an issue and presents those findings accurately.

● Newsrooms that are small to medium size (10 to 50 staff members).

● Newsrooms with a substantial digital presence.

● Newsrooms must have access to technical support (could be IT manager, developer, website manager, etc.).

● Newsrooms with the capacity and willingness to commit at least two staff members to participate in the programme for six months and attend an in-person training/online training. 

● No history of illicit or illegal activities by the entity, owner, senior management and key staff.

● Newsrooms that aren’t affiliated/associated to any government entity or political grouping.

● Newsrooms with editorial independence and freedom to make decisions without interference from non-editorial actors including owners.

Method of Application

For More Information,

Visit the Official Webpage

Application Deadline: November 18, 2024.