A two-day virtual course in OSINT, AI-assisted reporting and data journalism drew journalists from across Nepal in June and July.

The Nepal Investigative Multimedia Journalism Network (NIMJN) trained 55 journalists in digital investigation techniques through two virtual sessions held June 10-11 and July 15-16, 2026. Twenty-eight journalists completed the first cohort; 27 completed the second.

The training addressed growing demand among Nepali newsrooms for digital verification and data-driven reporting skills. Sessions covered open-source intelligence (OSINT), data journalism, AI-assisted reporting tools, metadata analysis and short-form multimedia storytelling.

NIMJN Chief Editor Rajneesh Bhandari led sessions on investigative methodology, OSINT and AI-driven tools, emphasizing evidence, risk assessment and story angles. He told participants that rigorous investigative work can have lasting impact nationally and internationally.

Participants said investigative journalism differs from daily news gathering, requiring systematic, fact-based inquiry, reliable sourcing and original reporting rather than event coverage.

NIMJN copy editor Shuphal Kafle led a session on building investigative hypotheses, covering story pitching, evidence collection and verification.

NIMJN fellow Makar Shrestha introduced data journalism fundamentals, including data collection, cleaning and preparation for analysis. The session addressed common dataset problems and data visualization techniques for evidence-based reporting.

Priyanka Hamal and Aditi Shrestha led multimedia training focused on 60-second storytelling for social media, walking participants through a pre-production-to-post-production framework covering scriptwriting, material gathering and mobile editing. The session addressed the shift from broadcast production to mobile-first content.

Additional sessions covered digital forensic tools for photo and social media analysis, and investigative sourcing on platforms such as Reddit and Discord.

Participants said they responded well to the virtual format.

"I used to wonder how this online training would be, but it turns out to be good," said participant Radha Poudel (Ajabi).

Prakash BC said the training offered more detailed instruction than other online sessions he had attended. "We got to learn even small things," he said, adding that a longer session could have covered more ground.

"I benefited from the helpful and informative sessions of the training. I look forward to participating in future training held by NIMJN with more practical exercises," said Pankaj Mahra Chamar, who said in-person training would do more to build digital skills.

Participants asked NIMJN to continue offering similar training.

NIMJN is a Kathmandu-based nonprofit, founded and run by journalists, that supports Nepal's media sector through training, workshops and investigative multimedia production.