When it comes to this new coronavirus, COVID-19, which is now considered a global pandemic, it’s easy for readers and viewers to go online or look at social media and find a lot of information and misinformation.
Graham Media Group wants to serve as readers’ official source when it comes to finding the best, most accurate, up-to-date and well-rounded information.
And although GMG stations aim to both verify and refute things our viewers wonder and see about the coronavirus, there are also some questions that experts still don’t know the answer to. At WDIV-TV, for example, health expert/reporter and emergency room doctor Frank McGeorge says the station is still going to address those topics, because “acknowledging what we don’t know is just as important as verifying information -- so people don’t rely on incorrect answers.”
To see how Detroit-area viewers and readers can submit a question, click or tap here.
This is all a part of the Trust Index, a new initiative to combat misinformation campaigns targeting local media. Graham Media Group and WPLG Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, just announced the campaign's launch.
“Nothing is more important than getting the story right,” said Emily Barr, President and CEO of Graham Media Group. “We are providing timely training and processes to our six newsrooms to help in the fight against misinformation campaigns attacking local news.”
Graham Media Group and WPLG are partnering with Fathm, a global leader in the fight against misinformation. Fergus Bell, Fathm’s founder and CEO, is working with newsroom leadership to evolve a verification system and to train journalists to identify and stop the spread of misinformation.
"It is fantastic to be working with organizations like Graham Media Group and WPLG who are putting a high priority focus on such an important initiative,” Bell said. “I am looking forward to preparing all of their news teams to fight misinformation in a way that is certain to benefit audiences and contribute to a healthier media ecosystem in 2020."
Graham Media Group and WPLG’s Trust Index is designed to:
- Identify manipulated or out-of-context user-generated content
- Detect fake stories generated for revenue or political motives
- Expose political ads served algorithmically with little oversight
- Support transparency in the newsroom
- Reinforce journalistic ethics
- Counteract misinformation with incisive reporting and social posts
- Encourage viewers and users to share questionable content for review by station journalists
It will look like this, shown on the news article above.
As the Trust Index, especially in this time of the coronavirus pandemic -- with new information coming in daily -- our news organizations are here to dispell any misinformation.
Bell led the first round of training at WDIV in Detroit in January and will soon complete newsroom training sessions for WPLG and all Graham Media Group stations.
Misinformation and disinformation campaigns are not limited to national politics. Increasingly, the industry is seeing coordinated campaigns designed to trick local newsrooms into reporting false or misleading stories. While GMG stations work to build defenses for reporting on the 2020 elections, a strong verification-type system will enhance the company’s newsrooms overall.
“Fact-checking is in the DNA of this company but advancements in technology are disrupting truth. We are committed to providing our communities information that they can trust,” Barr said.