Many newsrooms rely on their editorial guidelines and code of ethics. Report the truth. Get the facts right. Be independent and impartial. Be transparent with your sources. Own up to your mistakes and issue prompt corrections. These fundamentals are still the bedrock of journalism. But as audiences become hyper-networked, technological innovations have expanded the ways in which news can be gathered and distributed. In response, agents of disinformation have devised increasingly inventive methods for manipulating journalists, the social platforms and the subsequent media coverage. As a result, news organisations find themselves facing an array of new ethical challenges relating specifically to amplification.
This workshop focuses on responsible reporting and the crucial role newsrooms play in the polluted information ecosystem. Participants will learn about the language of information disorder (trolls, hacks, amplification), how to write about manipulated content and online extremism, how to craft responsible headlines and social media posts, and how to conduct ethical newsgathering in closed online spaces like WhatsApp and private Facebook groups.
In 2020, First Draft will launch its Digital Investigations Certificate of Excellence programme (DICE). Attendees can earn credits towards their certificate by participating in this workshop. The workshop is also designed to complement one of First Draft’s Essential Guides and printed copies will be provided to each participant.
Organised in association with First Draft.