MANILA, Philippines – Seven campus journalists selected for this year’s Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship completed an intensive onsite training program at the Rappler newsroom from August 5 to 8, 2026.
The onsite training, which is an essential component of the program, aims to strengthen the fellows’ knowledge and skills in public interest reporting, with a particular emphasis on spotting corruption and local-level accountability.
For this year’s cohort, the training sessions covered critical areas such as local community reporting, the budget process, spotting corruption red flags, and digital security, alongside technical skills in data journalism, responsible and efficient use of AI for research, liveable cities and community engagement, vertical video creation, and long-form writing.
Applying new tools, learnings
During the training, the transition from reporting within campus borders to tackling complex public-interest issues marked a fundamental shift for the fellows.
