Pressing journalists like lemons to produce many stories leaves them with little time to verify facts and this leads to inaccurate reporting, says Robert Bourgoing
Editors should also shift their focus from quantity to quality. Pressing journalists like lemons to produce many stories leaves them with little time to think, reflect, or verify facts. This leads to inaccurate reporting, which erodes reader trust. Among other things, in an interview for Portalb.mk this is said by Robert Bourgoing, a French-Canadian journalist, an international trainer, speaker and consultant with state-of-the-art expertise in online information and disinformation. For Portalb.mk, he spoke about the importance of fact checking in the media, some of the tricks that journalists should use, challenges, disinformation, malignant influences and many other things
Editors should also shift their focus from quantity to quality. Pressing journalists like lemons to produce many stories leaves them with little time to think, reflect, or verify facts. This leads to inaccurate reporting, which erodes reader trust. Among other things, in an interview for Portalb.mk this is said by Robert Bourgoing, a French-Canadian journalist, an international trainer, speaker, and consultant with state-of-the-art expertise in online information and disinformation. For Portalb.mk, he spoke about the importance of fact-checking in the media, some of the tricks that journalists should use, challenges, disinformation, malignant influences, and many other things
Interviewed by: Fisnik Xhelili
Original interview on Portalb.mk
Portalb: In your experience, what role should fact-checking play in maintaining journalistic integrity, especially in today’s fast-paced news environment?
Robert Bourgoing: The role is absolutely essential—vital. It has always been the job of journalists to fact-check information; that’s what we’re here for. We’re not just here to tell nice stories. Anyone can write nice stories on the web. What we need from journalists is useful, trustworthy information that has been verified—not after fake news has spread, but before. Fact-checking and maintaining journalistic integrity should happen at every stage of reporting, especially before the reporting is even published.
The big problem today is the speed at which everything is happening, and the fact that the internet is free. People don’t see the value of journalism anymore; they’re not willing to pay for it. This makes it all the more important to focus on accuracy and resist the temptation to publish information too quickly, without enough fact-checking. It’s a big issue—speed has a direct impact on the accuracy of journalists’ work.
Portalb: What are some effective techniques or tools that journalists, especially new journalists, can use to verify images, videos, and websites, particularly in this era of AI-generated content?
Robert Bourgoing: There are plenty of tools and techniques, and I couldn’t give you a quick answer. But before jumping to use any flashy tool or impressive technique, the most important thing is to sharpen your observation skills.
Tools are only effective if journalists understand their own cognitive biases and how the structure of the internet and social media can manipulate their perceptions, amplifying misinformation. It’s crucial to understand how the internet works, how social media is designed to lead us in the wrong directions. The purpose of social media isn’t to spread the truth—it’s to make money. So, I’d say using your observation skills, critical thinking, and, honestly, the human brain—those are the most important tools you have.
Portalb: When faced with information that’s harder to verify, especially as a young journalist, what should they do?
Robert Bourgoing: The first thing is always to double-check, triple-check your information. Never rely on just one source. Use multiple, reliable sources—including people. Don’t stay stuck on the internet—use your phone, call experts.
There are so many great tools, especially for monitoring social media, where things move fast. Learning to monitor automatically with free tools is essential. But most importantly, collaborate. Journalists can’t be superheroes who know everything. It’s impossible to be an expert in everything. You need to work with others, especially those who may be more advanced users of certain tools. We live in the era of big data, and journalism now requires a team effort.
Portalb: What are some of the biggest challenges journalists face when it comes to fact-checking, and how can they overcome them?
Robert Bourgoing: The biggest challenge, as I mentioned, is speed. The rate at which information is produced and shared on the internet is overwhelming. Another challenge is that we have fewer paid journalists now, and media organizations expect their journalists to do everything—take photos, videos, interview people, and edit. This leaves no time to think, research, confirm information, or analyze. That’s a huge challenge.
Another issue is that everyone now pretends to be a journalist. Anyone can have a website that looks legitimate or start a podcast. It’s tough to assess the value of each source. Plus, with AI and fake content, especially images, the lines between what’s real and fake are becoming increasingly blurred.
Portalb: The Western Balkan countries are facing malign influence and disinformation campaigns, mostly from Russia and China. What strategies should local journalists apply to fight these efforts?
Robert Bourgoing: That’s a tough question. The strategy is really about strengthening your knowledge of the actors and the tactics they use in disinformation campaigns. You have to train yourself to recognize patterns in the distribution of fake information. It’s about understanding the issues and constantly educating yourself.
Journalists shouldn’t wait for someone else to train them—you can find so much free training on the internet. Start small, like doing reverse image searches. Fighting disinformation isn’t just a journalist’s job—it’s also up to the government, private companies, and the general public. Everyone has a role to play in combating this issue.
Portalb: How can experienced journalists and educators inspire and encourage young journalists to prioritize fact-checking in their work?
Robert Bourgoing: Experienced journalists aren’t always the best prepared to fact-check today because they’re not necessarily used to it. Young journalists may need to take the lead here. The issue is that news editors often don’t realize the training needs of young journalists because they weren’t trained themselves. If you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s hard to see what’s missing.
Experienced journalists should lead by example. Show how fact-checking improves the trust that readers have in you. Trust is key. Editors should also shift their focus from quantity to quality. Pressing journalists like lemons to produce many stories leaves them with little time to think, reflect, or verify facts. This leads to inaccurate reporting, which erodes reader trust. If your readers don’t trust you, they won’t come back. Editors need to help their journalists produce well-researched, solid stories instead of pushing for speed and quantity, just to feed social media.
Portalb: Do you have any final thoughts or messages for journalists in North Macedonia?
Robert Bourgoing: Don’t wait for others to do the work for you. Start training yourself. You can start with simple things, like trying to uncover who’s behind an anonymous website. Be aware of how easily you can be manipulated on the internet. For example, if you’re using Chrome, just right-click on an image and search with Google Lens to see where it came from. Start small and you’ll soon see it’s a lot of fun and very rewarding because it gives you a sense of control.
In general, we’ve lost control over the information we’re exposed to—so much fake information, disinformation, conspiracy theories. But once you know a few tricks and become aware of your cognitive biases, you can start taking control again. It’s empowering, and I have to warn you, that fact-checking is addictive! It’s a lot of fun and incredibly rewarding.
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