Verification of News Video Content: Findings from a Study of Journalism Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT The rapid spread of misinformation online has been deemed as a growing problem in the current digital media environment with significant impact both on journalism and on society at large. As news practitioners are increasingly challenged by information overload and the need to process huge volumes of unstructured and unfiltered data within a very short time span, the veracity of online and User-Generated Content (UGC) and its spread through social media and video platforms has been identified as a key concern. This study aims to extend the body of knowledge on the verification of news video content, derived from social media platforms. Using a web-based tool that analyses the online context around a video post and presents a number of verification signals, a set of fake and real news videos coming from YouTube and Facebook were examined by a sample of journalism students (N = 90) regarding their veracity. A sample of professional journalists (N = 17) was also used for qualitative comparison purposes and additional results. The results of the study highlight the significance of online context as well as the efficacy of a semi-automated process in the verification of video content and journalism practice, in conjunction with useful verification features and practices.