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Here’s what the delegates learned:

Fake news is as old as news itself, indeed most people have come across it in their own lives as harmful gossip. The growth and pervasiveness of new and digital media have not slowed down its spread and infection rate. In fact, journalists and audiences alike are finding it harder to distinguish the facts from fables as fake news perpetrators levy the formidable digital manipulation tools at their disposal. 

As journalists it is our responsibility to be one step ahead of those operating behind the scenes and be ready to debunk the fakes. Our masterclasses “Fake News in the Digital Age”, provided a best practice methodology of investigating a news story, source or viral content. The course presented in English and Arabic, was given for New Media Academy’s selected delegates from the international media markets. Presented by acclaimed journalist and media trainer Najiba Kasraee, her objective for the class was to teach the necessary questions to ask about content and to present the guiding principles of verification. Positive feedback from delegates and New Media Academy organisers reflected how valuable the information on methodology and tools for verification was for them and their organisations. Here we will consider the key questions a journalist must ask to verify content and debunk fake news.

First we must consider: why do people make fake news? Quite simply fake news creators want to influence the audience - whether that is to take an action or swing their political bias. And at this point we must face up to the stark reality few in news media want to acknowledge: Fake news is more popular than real news. It is created to peak interest, go viral and travel widely on social media. If done right fake news can tap into a popular zeitgeist or national fear. And this is the fake news that flies. 

What does the perpetrator can gain? It could be social media fame, followers, financial gain, or the simply the satisfaction of winning a larger audience to his or her way of thinking. 

What should a media organisation do to verify images? Identify where geographically a photograph or video was taken from. Do features on the landscape make fit the image? Can the contributor provide other images from the same place and time? Do they all fit together? 

Many fake news images are plucked from films and tv series, or are old news images that are simply reframed with the new caption and headline. Online searches will help you identify if this the case. 

Fake video’s can be identified by inspecting the clip for signs of editing. Is the lighting the same across the image, or are there sections with more glare? Can you see unnatural jumps in the footage? Does this audio mismatch the scene? Seasoned video editors will make light work of identifying edits, so find yourself a friendly editor to fight on your side. 

What about the source? Research the individual or the website the content has been taken from. Do their social accounts look genuine and long standing? Can you find out if they have ‘paid for’ followers? Is the website well-populated with genuine content, or does it look sparse and new? What does the ‘about us’ section reveal? Put yourself in their position, what do they gain from promoting this story?

Even at this point it may have occurred to you that some of the indicators of fake news are relatively small flaws, the kind that a really experienced video/image/website editor could iron out in no time. Not to mention deepfake content generated through virtual reality and visual effects software. But I can assure you we are not fighting a losing battle.

So how do journalists equip themselves to quickly and successful debunk fake news? This is where your toolkit of debunking resources and research tools must come into its own. 

We've described the questions you must ask when verifying content, but do you to have the right tools at your disposal to find the answer? 

Here at LIT we have gathered together the best tools, techniques and resources from newsroom editors, verification experts and visual effects masters and compiled them into a hands-on training course “How to verify content and debunk fakes.” We will take you through the key resources, research tools and techniques that are essential in answering each of these questions. 

Send us an email to be among the first to register for this course.