In a global-first act of collaborative research and knowledge sharing involving leading international experts, the UN published a new handbook this week that aims to help equip journalism to tackle the scourge of “information disorder.”
The book, Journalism,
Fake Newsand Disinformation, was edited by the two of us — Julie Posetti, a senior research fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and Cherilyn Ireton, executive director of the World Editors Forum. Here we share the handbook’s key lessons from the frontline of the “fake news” fightback.We curated this handbook, under commission from UNESCO (the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), in the context of growing international concern about a “disinformation war” — a “war” in which journalism and journalists have become prime targets. This targeting — by “strongman” politicians and deceptive corporate actors, from Trump to Duterte, Cambridge Analytica to Bell Pottinger — makes fighting back against weaponized information mission critical for journalism.
So we brought together some of the world’s leading journalism researchers and practitioners working to combat the disinformation crisis to ensure the handbook delivered cutting edge good practice advice built on high quality research. Contributing authors include: First Draft News’ Claire Wardle, Poynter’s Alexios Mantzarlis, Meedan’s Tom Trewinnard, Dig Deeper’s Fergus Bell, and Lebanon-based media literacy specialist Magda Abu-Fadil. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Alice Matthews and the Ethical Journalism Network’s Tom Law provided additional research.
Between us, we have tackled: the truth and trust nexus, the key terms, definitions and formats of “information disorder”; the causes and consequences of the crisis in the context of digital transformation of journalism; the implications for media literacy; the role and purpose of fact-checking, along with basic techniques; verification processes for social media content, with an emphasis on images and video; and strategic responses to disinformation-fuelled, and frequently gendered, online harassment and cyberattack.
Our combined efforts are designed to be used as practical training resources for working journalists and newsrooms, as a model curriculum (or individual lessons) in journalism education settings, or as knowledge resources for media development and media literacy initiatives internationally.