Category Archives: Fairness

Probe Figure Dies By Suicide

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, Minimizing Harm, , ,

What to do when the subject of a sex investigation dies by suicide: There’s no playbook for journalists about how to handle situations like that, writes Meg Dalton, about a Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Louisville Public Media podcast revealing the troubled past of a prominent political and religious figure.

The case “is an exemplar not only of dogged local reporting, but also a how-to for newsrooms grappling with unexpected ramifications,” writes Dalton, such as the death of a subject.

Facebook Home of Viral Hoaxes

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, Minimizing Harm, Online News, Social Media, Transparency, Using Deception, , , ,

Rumors, misinformation and fake news: Craig Silverman says he helped popularize the term “fake news” and now regrets it.

Silverman and colleagues published an analysis of 50 of the biggest fake news hits on Facebook in 2017.

“This highlights the challenge faced by Facebook to find ways to halt or arrest the spread of completely false stories on its platform, and raises questions about how much progress has been made in fighting this type of misinformation.”

Facebook “remains the home of massively viral hoaxes,” says Silverman.

Killing Net Neutrality Rules Could Hurt Students

Fairness, Freedom of Speech, Online News, Social Media, Videos, , , , , ,

Killing net neutrality rules could hurt students using videoconferencing and other forms of high-tech distance learning, writes Klint Finley.

The Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 14 scraped rules that ban internet providers from blocking or slowing data delivery. Rural populations could suffer most, says Finley.

Facial-recognition and Internet Vigilantes

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, Minimizing Harm, Online News, Social Media, Transparency, Using Deception, , , , , ,

Year of the Internet Vigilantes: Doris Truong writes about online identification technology to combat misinformation.

“It might lie in facial-recognition technology. You might have it in your hands already, depending on which smartphone you’re using.” Trust but verify.

Mysteries of Journalism to News Consumers

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, Online News, Transparency, , , ,

What news consumers don’t know about journalism: Margaret Sullivan asks journalists what they wish news consumers knew about their business.

“The vetting process is similar at many large news organizations — and it’s just one of the practices that journalists assume, perhaps incorrectly, that news consumers understand,” writes Sullivan. “Sourcing is one of the least understood of the mysteries.”

 

Getting to Know Reporters Builds Trust

Accountability, Fairness, Independence, Media, Transparency, , , , , , ,

Getting to know reporters builds trust: Pictures and bios of reporters are “trust indicators,” write Alex Curry and Natalie (Talla) Jomini Stroud about a Center for Media Engagement trust project experiment.

News organizations have ways to signal trustworthiness to their audience.

“Sharing why and how a story was written and parting the curtain on the organizational leadership structure are a few of the tested ideas that show promise.”

Mistake Feeds “Fake News” Charges

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, Minimizing Harm, , , , , , , , ,

Brian Ross mistake feeds “fake news” charges: Vivian Wang quotes ethics expert Kathleen Culver saying “this error plays right into the hands of people who callously try to say that news media all just lie.” ABC News suspends Ross. Culver calls for wider assessment.

Keeping Hold of What’s Real

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Independence, Media, Minimizing Harm, Transparency, , , , , , , , ,

Reality reporting: Margaret Sullivan writes, “As a nation tries to keep hold of what’s real…, we need more of what’s working: rigorous, careful journalism and radical transparency.”