What does content verification mean in the age of deepfakes?

Deepfakes – doctored videos fabricating footage of what looks like real people – have been around for years. But the journalism community is now starting to take seriously their potential to damage trust in the media and democracy.

Most recently, a YouTube clip of Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader, talking to David Letterman on his late night show in 2008 has gone viral for showing Hader doing an impression of Tom Cruise, while his face seamlessly morphs to Cruise’s and then back to normal.

The AI-altered video has been viewed nearly 3 million times since being uploaded to the YouTube channel Ctrl Shift Face a week ago.

One of the problems with deepfake videos is the difficulty to debunk and stop them before they go viral. And even when they are showed to be fake, our brains may still think “seeing is believing” – and we cannot un-see footage.

This is particularly concerning during breaking news, when first footage from the scene is hardly ever a professional one, according to Hazel Baker, Reuters head of user-generated content news-gathering.

Hazel Baker is amongst the first confirmed panellists for a session that will look at the latest techniques used to produce fake news material and discuss the best practices for news verification.

Google and Facebook step up their efforts to revive local journalism

Last week we announced that Journalism.co.uk and Google News Initiative have partnered to offer 30 local journalists the opportunity to attend the Newsrewired conference.
We have received nearly 50 applications in one week alone, which shows how much demand for support there is from bootstrapped, regional newsrooms.

We discussed more ways in which Google supports journalists in last week’s podcast with Madhav Chinnappa, director of news ecosystem development at Google. From financing innovative news projects around the world through Google News Initiative to launching free tools that help journalists verify online content, the tech platform is making an effort to build bridges with the media industry.

Google is not the only big tech company looking to empower local journalism in the UK. Following the launch of its Community News Project earlier this year, Facebook has trained the first cohort of freshly recruited local journalists to help spark innovation in regional newsrooms.

Newsrewired to welcome 30 local journalists thanks to support from the Google News Initiative

Journalism.co.uk and Google News Initiative have partnered to offer 30 local journalists the opportunity to attend the Newsrewired conference.

Thanks to the support from GNI, 10 local journalists will be able to attend both days, with a further 20 places being offered to local journalists interested in attending the conference only on 27 November 2019.

New speaker joins panel on diversity in the newsroom

We are pleased to announce that a new speaker will be joining Marverine Cole on the panel that will be discussing the best practices to build a diversified and sustainable newsroom.

Robyn launched The Overtake, an investigative news website for millennials based in Leeds, in October 2017. In 2018, she was shortlisted for the Georgina Henry Award at the Press Awards and this year was nominated for the Paul Foot Award for her investigation into racist London nightclubs.

New speaker announcement: Marverine Cole joins panel on diversity in the newsroom

We are pleased to announce that Marverine Cole, journalist, broadcaster and academic at Birmingham City University, will be joining the panel.

Marverine Cole has worked for many of Britain’s most-watched and listened to broadcasters, including Sky News, ITV Central and BBC Midlands Today.

How can diversity help news organisations regain audiences’ trust?

Our team at Journalism.co.uk has spent the last few months talking to industry leaders about the challenges they face.

What we have found is that the lack of diversity in the newsroom is one of the most pressing problems for the top players, as well as the B2B publications and local papers.

Newsrewired November 2019: early agenda announced

The next Newsrewired digital journalism conference will take place on 27 November 2019 at Reuters in Canary Wharf, London.

One of the key sessions of the day will be a discussion around diversity in the newsroom.

Save £50 with our early-bird offer

The next Newsrewired digital journalism conference will take place on 27 November 2019 at Reuters in Canary Wharf, LondonThis will be our 25th conference and, as usual, our sessions will give practical tips and advice on tools and strategies that delegates can try in their own newsrooms.

Newsrewired March 2019: seven main takeaways

The Newsrewired conference, which took place on 6 March 2019 at Reuters in London, showcased once again the most interesting projects and latest trends in digital journalism.

If you weren’t there, or if you simply want to remind yourself of the topics of the day, check out this editorial selection of the best conference coverage articles.

Agenda update: new speakers and lunchtime workshop alternative

With only one day to go to our Newsrewired conference, taking place tomorrow at Reuters in London, UK, we are pleased to announce two new speakers will be joining us on the day.