Verifying video materials should be a routine part of reporting, but knowing how to use the digital tools to verify fake content is just one part of the skill. The creative techniques behind video verification are even more important.
What’s the #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL mapping from May 29 to June 4 includes research on social media’s fake propaganda from @ddjournalism, mapping global refugee flow from @FastCompany and the tax bracket racket from @voxdotcom.
The Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” as the Word of the Year 2016. It is an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” This attitude of readers choosing their own beliefs over facts has been a huge problem that beset journalism in the past year, with media outlets trying to regain readers’ trusts and debunking false news from dubious digital sites. Here is a list of initiatives to combat fake news that have popped up in response to this challenge.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Apr 3-9, per our NodeXL mapping: #fakenews guide (@PublicDataLab); election bots (@d1gi); data story rules (@surendranb); China climate risk (@nytimes); UK jobs (@sole24ore); #PerugiaPledge (@dw_innovation); & more.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Feb 27-Mar 5, per our NodeXL mapping: #NICAR17 readings (@albertocairo); fake news guide collaboration (@jwyg); US visa restrictions (@ddjournalism); statistics’ interactive viz (@BrownUniversity); Guardian’s 10-point guide to ddj (@smfrogers); & more.
From time immemorial, media, both good and bad, have published false official “truths” dictated by authoritarian governments and propaganda by private interests. Now, what is even more a threat to journalism is the increasing shady interests committed to news forgery. There are no easy solutions but journalism is fighting back with new fact-checking initiatives, new media alliances and the creation of new platforms to check sources.
Here are the hottest data journalism tweets for Feb 6-12, per our NodeXL mapping: data tips (@pilhofer); Trump tweets (@DataRemixed); 165 years of Swiss Immigration (@duc_qn); Lisa Charlotte Rost’s data blog (@lisacrost); open corporate data (@ddjournalism); & more.
In a post-truth future, it can be frustratingly hard to fight fake news and rumors beyond one’s immediate reach. In a system where no source is deemed fully trustworthy, research and citations are diminished to just another set of opinions. This has been China’s story for decades. In 2016, it is starting to be the U.S.’ story as well.
