How to validate breaking news in social media

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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 of How to validate breaking news in social media

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

Find original source with: topsy.com

Find source with: backtweets.com

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!

Find video material: youtube.com

Find video material: youtube.com

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 TRY TO FIND HIM WE GO TO LINKEDIN.COM

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

CONTACT ME: HENK@VANESS.NL +31 33 7 508 747

HENK VAN ESS @henkvaness