Social journalism students learn how to fight disinformation
“Think like a troll.” That’s the message students received during a training with First Draft News
Think like a troll.
That’s the mindset attendees were asked to put themselves in during one exercise at a training held by First Draft News. The mis- and disinformation monitoring and verification organization works with journalists on how to handle false or misleading information when covering the 2020 Census, presidential election, and now, the coronavirus.
Social Journalism students joined other graduate students from around New York City in attending a workshop hosted by the Newmark J-School this February.
First Draft News has held similar workshops across the country where journalists learn to find and verify information being shared digitally. Participants work in teams on a stimulated breaking news crisis, building a better sense of when and how to report on rumors and learning the signs of disinformation like fake websites, fabricated social media posts and manipulated videos.
Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Social Journalism students and alumni at the First Draft News disinformation training. (Photo Courtesy of Skyler Reid)
Learning to identify, verify and report on disinformation are valuable skills. Social-j students have participated in similar trainings and projects in the past, like ProPublica’s Electionland, and there are alumni now working jobs in verification at NBC News and other outlets.
The training started by giving examples on ways the public and reporters can be deceived online through false tips or deep fake videos. First Draft broke down information disorder into categories — Mis-Information, Mal-information and Dis-Information.
Misinformation is when mistakes are made with statistics, translations, captions or dates.. Disinformation is when people intentionally create and share false information through manipulated visual content or fabricated websites. Then there’s malinformation, which is when someone leaks private records or seeks revenge with content.
Understanding these definitions helps reporters see that there are different forms of false information to look out for, especially online, and to be critical before making a decision on how to report. In many cases, repeating disinformation may only serve to amplify it further.
When newsrooms find out their audience is sharing false information in comments on stories or misinformation is circulating in the community, they have to decide when it is their responsibility to verify these posts and if they do, what they should say about them. First Draft News calls this “the tipping point.” They want reporters to recognize the risks of inadvertently elevating false information.
After understanding the resources and platforms to help sort through social media, attendees put what they learned to the test with a stimulated information crisis. Journalists were broken up into groups with newsroom names and staff roles to give the feel of a real newsroom. It was up to the teams to decide what was worth reporting on from official sources and other accounts — some of them trolls.
It was critical for each “newsroom” to also consider how best to work together and communicate through a breaking news situation in which rumors are running rampant. Some sent out updates quickly as information came in, and others chose to only report on some of the updates. This also created an opportunity to see if some newsrooms could combine resources and information to collaborate with each other.
Current social journalism student Jake Wasserman found the training valuable in understanding how difficult and complicated it is for newsrooms to be on the defense against disinformation. “It’s important for the media to get out ahead of disinformation created by malicious actors,” he said.
The day ended with a group discussion on ethical challenges in covering online communities and the risks and benefits that closed anonymous spaces bring to modern reporting.
Diara Townes, a Social Journalism M.A. 2019 graduate, now works with First Draft News and said she is ready to help the organization be a pioneer in helping not just journalists but researchers and those working in public health, technology and in other fields.
“The goal is to become a researcher to individuals and industries in understanding the tactics of disinformation and getting familiar with the pattern,” Diara said. “First Draft wants you to understand what you’re seeing and how to understand if what you’re seeing is true.”
First Draft News is now working on resources to help reporters cover COVID-19. A covering coronavirus course is offered on their website.
