At GIJC21, two investigative journalists who have used their cutting-edge expertise in media manipulation to expose scamsters, far-right propagandists, and secret troll farms discussed tracking digital footprints, free resources for content verification — and the kind of tips that might just break a big story.
As part of our annual Editor’s Pick series, read on to discover the best investigations in China and Taiwan published this year, selected by GIJN Chinese Editor Joey Qi.
Reporters Sans Frontieres published, for the first time, a list of press freedom’s 20 worst digital predators in 2020. Whether state offshoots, private-sector companies, or informal entities, they reflect a reality of power at the end of the 21st century’s second decade, in which investigative reporters and other journalists who cause displeasure risk being the targets of predatory activity by often hidden actors.
Reporters, especially the most independent, critical, and investigative ones, have long been at the receiving end of autocratic governments’ intolerance of dissent. What’s new is the use of the internet and social media platforms to undermine journalists’ credibility, combined with a more sophisticated application of legal instruments and bureaucratic punitive measures, writes GIJN Spanish Editor Catalina Lobo-Guerrero.
Over the past two years, words like “bots,” “botnets” and “trolls” have entered mainstream conversations about social networks and their impact on democracies. Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab laid out some of the working definitions and their methodologies to help identify, expose and explain disinformation online.
A new report by Reporters Without Borders is helping to shed light on the latest danger for journalists – threats and insults on social networks that are designed to intimidate them into silence. The organization has put forth these 25 recommendations for governments, international organizations, online platforms, media companies and advertisers to respond to these virulent online campaigns.
