The Checklist: Arab Saints Edition
Geolocation, bullsh*t news specialists, verifying video, and more
The Checklist is a weekly newsletter of links, case studies and research around verification and user-generated content, brought to you by the Checkdesk team. Sign up to have your own free copy delivered direct to your inbox every Tuesday.
1. Geo-location expert Eliot Higgins shows how he tracked the origin of the missile launcher that took down MH17
Excellent extended video interview with Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins demonstrating some of the techniques he and his team used to investigate the MH17 incident using open source investigations.
2. How to Manage, Verify Eyewitness Media on Social
Excellent new training opportunity via the folks at Eyewitness Media Hub.
The risk of running unverified hoaxes or misinformation, falling foul of copyright law and compromising standards of source protection are just some of the considerations that must be balanced against the rush to stay one step ahead and in the age of eyewitness media there is much more competitive pressure to be right than there is to be first.
3. The King of Bullsh*t News
“Teacher suspended after sex session with teen pupil ends up on hardcore porn website,” read the Mirror’s headline. The Daily Mail — the most successful English-language newspaper website in the world — even went so far as to claim that there would be a criminal investigation, and that this wasn’t the first time that the teacher in question had sexual relations with a student. There was just one problem: It wasn’t true.
4. How Citizen Journalists Tap Silk to Tell Underreported Stories
In late 2014, during the military escalation of the war in Ukraine, Bellingcat began publishing photos of tanks, heavy artillery, and soldiers posted on Twitter and other social media platforms. In February 2015, Higgins and his team of investigative citizen journalists started using the visualization platform Silk to show the wave of military equipment being rolled into Ukraine, ostensibly from Russia.
5. A pocket guide on verifying details of a video
At Reported.ly, we look at videos frequently, especially those from citizens. We treat these videos as tips and always strive to verify them through our own process and help from the community. Here, managing editor Malachy Browne walks you through how he verified videos of an airstrike in Syria.
6. From the Archives: Ukraine’s Activists Debunk Russian Myths on Crimea
Mainstream media in Russia, however, have been especially ardent at competing for people’s attention and defending the actions of the Russian government, attempting to present a very specific picture of events in Ukraine. In turn, Ukrainian Internet users and journalists have attempted to combat the flood of misinformation by creating fact-checking initiatives.
7. Debunk of the Week: Media gets it wrong on Arab saints
Independent Lebanese journalist Habib Battah takes some prominent UK and US media outlets to task over some ill-researched claims regarding a recent historic beatification.
Credits: 1. 60 Minutes 2. Digital Ed 3. BuzzFeed 4. PBS 5. Reported.ly 6. Global Voices 7. Beirut Report
