Gracielly Bittencourt has been working as a journalist since 2009 and is dedicated to producing special reports focusing on human rights, gender issues and also investigates social, political and cultural changes related to the expansion of technology. She has received 13 national and international journalistic awards and is one of the most awarded journalists in Brazil. Over the past 5 years, Gracielly has realized that understanding the phenomenon of disinformation is a new challenge that journalists must face. She began studying the topic and in 2019 received the CNBB award for the report “The Power of Misinformation” that was shown on TV Brasil. Additionally, Gracielly was one of the 5 winning journalists of the FactCheckLab Program in 2020.

2023 IVLP Impact Award Project: Knowledge is a Vaccine Against Misinformation

Gracielly held two workshops for teenagers in Ceilândia, Brasilia, on fact-checking and misinformation. The first workshop trained students on how to recognize and check false information, and the second workshop allowed them to put what they learned into practice on social media. After the success of her first IVLP Impact Award project, Gracielly decided to expand her project to two more schools in poorer regions of the Federal District.

 

"My hope [is] to turn the youth into protagonists of the fight against misinformation, [and to train] young fact checkers to become references for other teenagers at their schools and communities." - Gracielly Bittencourt Machado

2022 IVLP Impact Award Project: Knowledge - The Vaccine Against Misinformation

This project held two fact-checking and misinformation workshops at a public school in Brasília - Federal District. These workshops were aimed at teenagers from the target audience of the HPV vaccine (girls from 9 to 14 years old and boys between 11 and 14 years old).
The workshops trained 30 young fact-checkers to become references for other teenagers at their schools and in the communities. To effectively reach teenagers with such information, these workshops encouraged the production of Whatsapp texts and memes, TikTok videos and podcasts. Content was also shared on the school website.

"The fight against misinformation is more than just fact-checking. We must invest in media education. With the support of the IVLP Impact Awards, we have the opportunity to launch workshops that will educate youth on misinformation." - Gracielly Bittencourt Machado

IVLP Exchange Experience

Gracielly was a participant in the IVLP Project Fortifying Brazilian Resilience to Disinformation in 2021, organized by the U.S. Department of State and World Learning. She was a participant in the IVLP Project Fortifying Brazilian Resilience to Disinformation in 2022, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center.

Gracielly's exchange experience led her to develop her IVLP Impact Award Project: "The speakers were very inspiring and encouraged me to take my ideas forward."

U.S. Communities Visited in 2022

St. Petersburg, FL; New York City, NY; Austin, TX

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually in 2021

San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; St. Petersburg, FL; Boston, MA; New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Austin, TX

Country: Brazil

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