Reasons for optimism #7: The movement for trustworthy information

Fact checkers globally offer alternatives to the flood of lies and misinformation Why write about “reasons for optimism” when so much is going wrong in our politics, economy, and environment? Optimism gives us confidence that we can make things better. As I like to say, it’s another day of opportunity. Much of what I read […]

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Fact-checkers need a marketing mentality

Let your users tell you what they value and are willing to pay for The International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute held its Global Fact 8 conference this past week. I was on a panel that discussed the question, “Fact-checking as a product: Why can’t we sell it?”. The moderator was Gilberto Scofield Jr., […]

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What works in fighting disinformation

Like covid-19 campaigns, effective countermeasures build on trusted relationships A study of Russian disinformation campaigns in Central and Eastern Europe reveals some scary data. But it also suggests some effective countermeasures and the role journalists can play in the battle for hearts and minds. The study, Disinformation Resilience in Central and Eastern Europe, reminds us […]

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How the press is struggling against ‘toxic’ disinformation

Facts and science don’t matter in the new media ecosystem What follows is the abstract of my paper just published by Comunicación y Hombre, of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. The emergence of search engines and social media networks in the past two decades created a new media ecosystem. It allowed the instantaneous creation, distribution, […]

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Three businesses help users find trustworthy information

As we all struggle to make sense of the flood of disinformation and misinformation in digital media, some entrepreneurs are developing businesses to help us identify the good stuff, the credible stuff. At the heart of one of the three business models is transparency–full disclosure–to increase our trust of particular media. And the other two […]

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Frustrated fact-checkers: the lies keep being told

Lies have a life of their own, and people want to believe them, especially when they are about people they don’t like, “the other”. Facts don’t sway people. As Laura Hazard Owen recently reported in Nieman Lab, three leading fact-checking organizations have said their work needs to go beyond simply calling out the lies of […]

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Lo que el dinero no puede comprar en los medios

Hay varias expresiones en inglés -el lenguaje del capitalismo-, que equiparan el dinero con algo real y fiable. “El dinero habla”. “Muéstrame el dinero” (para demostrar tu compromiso). A estos agregamos una del castellano: “Fía en tu duro más que en amigo ninguno”. El modo en el que la gente obtiene y gasta el dinero […]

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