(Photo: BBC)

Partners in the Trusted News Initiative (TNI), which works to protect audiences and users from disinformation, have agreed to create a regional Asia-Pacific network.

The new network’s members are ABC (Australia), NHK (Japan), SBS (Australia), NDTV (India), Dawn (Pakistan), Indian Express (India) and Kompas (Indonesia).

Led by the BBC, the TNI was set up in 2019 to protect audiences and users from disinformation, particularly around moments of jeopardy, such as elections.

In addition to the new Asia-Pacific partners, the TNI includes AP, AFP, BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Facebook, Financial Times, First Draft, Google/YouTube, The Hindu, Microsoft, Reuters, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Twitter and The Washington Post.

The media organisations that make up its new Asia-Pacific network have received training, funded by the Google News Initiative, to help their journalists navigate the disinformation environment.

Senior Controller of BBC News International Services and BBC World Service Director, Liliane Landor (pictured), said: “With the creation of TNI’s first regional network, we are bringing together trusted Asia-Pacific news-publishing organisations to further reinforce our collaboration and to make it even more efficient and productive.”

The TNI partnership works collectively in four main areas: fast alert, intelligence sharing, media education and engineering solutions.

See here for more on the TNI.