It was a talk on misinformation & fake news by James Ball.
James Ball is an author of Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World, commissioner of the London School of Economics’ Truth, Trust and Technology report, and journalist covering online and Russian disinformation, surveys the landscape almost three years after “fake news” became the word of the year.
From Facebook’s efforts to tackle “dark ads” to state responses to Russian interference, from automated fact-checking to new rules for online information – lots have been tried and are being tried. And he discussed what works (and what doesn’t)? And asked, “Are our priorities in the right place?”
He questioned if fake news is a threat to journalism, why are our most prominent newspapers putting it out there with their branding on it? He showed the examples of most prominent newspapers of the UK spreading fake news.
He urged as a human & journalist; we need to change. He tries to be positive on responses to misinformation and fake news – after dismissing most things (media literacy, fact-checking, blame the platforms) argues for journalists starting where people are, reflecting their consumers more.
He thinks relying on reader subscriptions results in demand to satisfy their needs – and incentivizes you to sensationalism & finding the story even when there’s not one required.
In the end, James said, “It is time to move from authority to authenticity for Journalists.”
More information about the session & recording is available at
https://www.journalismfestival.com/programme/2019/beyond-fake-news-whats-next-for-tackling-online-misinformation
– Press release by Pratik Ghumade – volunteer press office IJF19