The latest company to join the coalition of media, technology group in order to bring to the barest minimum the misinformation obtained online and to improve the quality of news that are shared on social networks are Twitter, Facebook, and Agence France-Presse which is a news organisation.
In association with Google, First Draft News made an announcement on Tuesday disclosing that 20 more news organisations were joining its network to disseminate information on what is the best journalism practice especially as we are in the online age.
First Draft managing director, Jenni Sargent, said the latest move will push the organisation’s efforts at improving online news and social network news.
She observed in a blog post that it was difficult to filter out information that is false, adding that since it was not only news organisations that share verified stories and everyone becoming a publisher, that there are bound to be such issues arising.
She added that all hands need to be on deck as solving the issue is not going to be a day job.
She gave an indication that training programs will be developed by the coalition which will give birth to verification platform that is collaborative and code of practice that is voluntary for news online.
She noted that truth and trust are some of the issues that the social platforms including the newsroom are all facing on daily basis.
For each of the partner, they will contribute by making available knowledge, policies and necessary training that is needed for reporters of new online to report news applying journalistic practices.
The announcement came in the wake of growing concerns over the role played by social media in filtering and delivering news for sites such as Facebook.
The partner networks will be made up of the following – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, BuzzFeed News, ProPublica, ABC News of Australia, France Info, The Telegraph, Breaking News, International Business Times UK, Le Monde’s Les Decodeurs, Al Jazeera Media Network and Eurovision News Exchange.
Others that are part of the network also include European Journalism Centre, Amnesty International, International Fact Checking Network, Duke Reporters’ Lab and American Press Institute.
The First Draft was formulated in collaboration with Google News Lab last year where it involved YouTube to verify videos by that are user-generated and amongst others.
