how to validate breaking news in social media
DESCRIPTION
How do you validate breaking news in social media? Two cases lead to 10 tips. Speech of Henk van Ess in Istanbul on April 30, 2014.TRANSCRIPT
Online Journalism & The Issue of Reliability
2 CASES, 10 TIPS
Henk van Ess
IstanbuL, APRIL 30, 2014
guest lecturer at universities in Europe social media verification specialist
WHAT?
TWO CASES TEN TIPS
THE PROBLEM:
TO BEACCURATE AND FAST
CASE 1
THE POPEAND THEDICTATOR
5 MINUTES
6 MINUTES
60 MINUTES
2 HOURS
3 HOURS
4 HOURS
How long do you wait before you publish?
It is MARCH 13, 2013
“I am your new pope”
Who are his friends?
AFTER 5 MINUTES IN SOCIAL MEDIA !well known reporters said….
THE POPE HAS
Source: The Guardian
verified account
AFTER 6 MINUTES IN SOCIAL MEDIA !reporters and bloggers joined !
60 minutes later in social media
Facebook flooded with reposts
3500 people retweeted itincluding many newspapers
Supporting articles appeared
A photo of Videla & the pope!
5 MINUTES GUARDIAN
6 MINUTES OTHER REPORTERS
60 MINUTES FACEBOOK & NEWSPAPERS
2 HOURS 3500 RETWEETS
3 HOURS NEW SUPPORTING ARTICLES
4 HOURS FIRST PICTURE
When would you publish?
Online Journalism & The Issue
My advice: Don’t publish at all! Not with these facts.
Let’s look at some clues once more
!
Where the sources really that good?
1. Find the original source
All tweets lead to… one article
article from High O’Shaughnessy
2. Who is talking?
His background looks ok
3. Check context
Not news, but opinion!
30 HOURS LATER
4.DON’T GO FOR MASS
Enough people tweeted it?
Nonsense can be tweeted by thousands
Errors can be retweeted by thousands
5. VERIFY UNKNOWN SOURCES
Find quotes ABOUT, not FROM
Quickly (start WITH) checking unknown sources via Google
6. VERIFY IMAGES
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
STEP 4
STEP 5
THE ORIGINAL SOURCE: GETTY, 1990
If you have images try to find the FIRST PUBLICATION
7. CHECK CLAIMS
Was the pope in 1990 in Buenos Aires?
Vatican.va
Cordoba
>700 km
Claim doesn’t match bio on Vatican
8. GOT A PHOTO? ALWAYS THINK: VIDEO!
9. CHECK IF OTHERS SAY: UNTRUE
false OR falsely OR fake photo "jorge videla" "jorge bergoglio"
Just go to “Baba” Google
Or check on words like “hoax” “blunder” “not true”
There are enough sources who doubt your story
Conclusion
This story could be debunkeD in TIME, pROBABLY IN 30 MINUTES
Still, two days later…
March 15
Sorry, but the sources were good!
Social media is chaotic, but if you know the tricks, you can use it to your advantage
CASE 2
THE SECRET PLANE
It is NOVEMBER 5, 2010
BOEING IS TESTING THE 787
SOMEBODY CALLS YOU
THE PROBLEM
BOEING: WE DON’T COMMENT ON TEST FLIGHTS
10. USE REAL TIME SERVICES
LET’S TRY THIS
Search in TWITTER PHOTO’S
LET’S TRY THIS
Search in TWITTER PHOTO’S
PICTURES OF NOVEMBER 5, 2010
FIND REALTIME Photo’s BY SEARCHING FOR KEYWORDS
“I don’t know if this allowed”
Who has access to this kind of information?
Next PHOTO: WeatheR RADAR
He looks like an airplane specialist
Supports credibility
Supports credibility
Another photo from the same person
Reversed image search
Not credible, from 2007!
WE HAVE NO CONFIRMATION AT ALL.
BUT WE DO HAVE A DEADLINE. NOW WHAT?
PICTURES OF NOVEMBER 5, 2010
Just one photo left..
Just one photo left..
Just one photo left..
LET’S HAVE A LOOK:DID HE PUBLISH OTHER PHOTO’S?
WE FOUND HIS WORKPLACE (KLM / MARTINAIR)
Just one photo left..
LET’S CONTACT HIM
FIRST CONFIRMATION (DUTCH)
AFTER THAT, WE CALLEDFIVE OTHER PEOPLE FROM THE AIRPORT QUOTING MR KABLAU 3 PEOPLE CONFIRMED
LET’S WRAP THIS UP
AND ABOVE ALL
SOCIAL MEDIA WILL GIVE YOU A LOT OF STRESS & VERIFICATION PROBLEMS !BUT THE SAME MEDIA WILL GIVE YOU A LOT OF WAYS TO VERIFY CLAIMS
