{"id":13985,"date":"2021-08-24T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T00:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/v3\/?p=13985"},"modified":"2021-08-24T14:50:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T06:50:59","slug":"fact-checking-news-organisations-tool-in-tackling-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rakansarawak.com\/v4\/2021\/08\/24\/fact-checking-news-organisations-tool-in-tackling-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-checking: News Organisations\u2019 Tool in Tackling Misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a 2020 data<\/a> from the Lloyd\u2019s Register Foundation World Risk Poll, 57 percent of Internet users of various age groups and socio-economic backgrounds were greatly concerned about receiving false information, ahead of online fraud and cyber-bullying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poll<\/a>, which was the result of more than 150,000 interviews in 142 countries, also revealed that such concern was particularly prevalent in regions where economic inequality is high, and ethnic, religious or political polarisation exists, contributing to the dwindling of social cohesion and trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reflects the need for news agencies to continuously play their part in reporting current local, regional and global events and fact-checking any confusing detail as objectively as possible because the general public depend on them for credible information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate, a team of communication researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) discovered that as the type of misinformation regarding COVID-19 rectified by Singapore\u2019s mainstream news outlets evolved over the course of the pandemic, the media\u2019s role in debunking those myths becomes increasingly vital for citizens<\/a> as part of the country\u2019s overall battle against the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To people who are concerned over receiving false information, news organisations tend to be their go-to source of credible information<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the study<\/a>, where 164 COVID-19 news articles published between 1 January and 30 April 2020 were analysed, the team noticed that most COVID-19 misinformation which were corrected during the early stage of the outbreak were related to science and health, but diminished as the pandemic progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the frequency in reporting and subsequently correcting misinformation on government policies and measures carried out during the pandemic increased over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nature of false information that the mainstream media rectified also changed within those four months \u2013 from \u201cfabricated misinformation\u201d to \u201creconfigured misinformation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the beginning of the pandemic we were seeing misinformation that is clearly fake based on clear visual and text cues, but as the pandemic evolved with latter phases and infodemic waves, the misinformation styles and presentation became more sophisticated and harder for the lay audience to discern,\u201d said Professor May Oo Lwin, Chair of NTU Singapore\u2019s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and lead author of the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is where the mainstream news media, with their social importance, wide reach, and role as a credible information source to the public during times of uncertainty, can play a crucial role in the timely dissemination of misinformation correction and prevent people from being hoodwinked and acting on potentially harmful misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is important to combat the propagation of misinformation, which can undermine key public health communication efforts and worsen the strain on public health systems,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact-checking is a crucial tool that news organisations must possess to ensure every information \u2013 especially public health and other areas affecting lives \u2013 that they disseminate to the public are accurate, thus enabling them to establish and maintain trust with their audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be seen through the launch of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)<\/a> in 2015, bringing together fact-checkers worldwide and championing best practices in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signatories of IFCN<\/a>, including news organisations such as Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters and the Associated Press (AP), abide by the network\u2019s Code of Principles, which are based on the belief that \u201cnon-partisan and transparent fact-checking can be a powerful instrument of accountability journalism.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These principles are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n