2024 Elections: Winning Readers' Trust in an Age of Disinformation

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2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election year.

— Time, 28 December 2023.

In 2024, with elections in at least 64 countries captivating around 49% of the world's population, publishers are set for a pivotal year. Yet, the shine might fade as they confront a wall of reader mistrust fuelled by disinformation and fake news.

That's why, this year, we will direct all our attention toward exploring how publishers can build trust and earn reader confidence amid 2024 elections.

Here's what you can expect from today's newsletter:        

• Fact check - check! Florian Schmidt spills the beans on running the APA's fact-checking unit.
• Ask me this, ask me that: why newsrooms should use fact-checking quizzes?
• AI to the rescue: 4 ways technology can combat fake news

Fact check - check! ?

Florian Schmidt, verification officer at the Austria Press Agency, spills the beans on running a fact-checking unit in an Mx3 interview. From combating COVID misinformation to navigating the disinformation storms of the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, he's seen it all.

Florian foresees a surge in fake content during this election year. Whether it's pushing agendas, chasing profits, or just for kicks, misinformation will be on the rise. What else does he say?

• The misinformation surge can be an opportunity for newsrooms to rebuild trust. Proving they have the skills to deliver verified and reliable information.
• Fact-checkers cannot reach people who are already in conspiracy bubbles.?But they can convince those who "stand on the edge."
• Longreads won't cut it to engage young people. Publishers need to create new formats to attract this segment. In collaboration with TikTok influencers, APA has already created two fact-checking videos for the platform.
• The rapid emergence of more fake news makes?cooperation between newsrooms necessary.?Networking is essential for knowledge transfer and effective debunking of misinformation.

| Stay vigilant with more insights from Florian Schmidt.

Ask me this, ask me that: why newsrooms should use fact-checking quizzes

Center for Media Engagement conducted experiments on leveraging quizzes to encourage reader engagement with fact-checking content. Here are the benefits for newsrooms they identified:

• Increased website retention rates.
• Readers find interactive quizzes more enjoyable compared to plain factual information.

• Reader interest in political news rises after taking a political quiz.
• Newsrooms can better identify topics of interest, potential stories, and information they should share more broadly.
• Readers recall and recognize information more effectively with a slider quiz. However, with multiple-choice quizzes, they recognize information better than recall it.

In sum, using quizzes can assist newsrooms in evaluating the effectiveness of their fact-checked articles and assessing whether readers retain critical information.

| For more findings and tips on maximizing the impact of quizzes, check out this INMA article.

AI to the rescue: 4 ways technology can combat fake news

Modern problems require modern solutions: leveraging AI enables newsrooms to verify information and become the trusted source readers seek.

So, what exactly can AI do?

• AI analyzes misinformation by cross-referencing details like names, dates, and figures against similar inaccuracies from the same source, ultimately tracing the content's origin.
• AI can determine if a human or computer crafted suspicious content using natural language processing - a crucial clue given how fast machines can create fake news.?
• AI tracks engagement levels of circulating stories, signaling potential red flags as fake news tend to garner more shares than likes. Conversely, "regular" posts typically receive more likes than shares.
• AI deploys algorithms to reverse-engineer alterations to combat image and video manipulation and identify tampered content.

| Explore further insights on how technology can combat fake news in Technology Dispatch

#TeamTickaroo recommends:        

• Building trust during 2024 elections with live-blogging and fact-checking by Journalism.co.uk
• Few things news media can do to respond to consistent news avoidance by the Reuters Institute
• 8 Trust Indicators people look for in media by The Trust Project

Big thanks for sticking with us, and see you soon!

Happy Liveblogging,

Tickaroo Team

Tickaroo is your live content software expert. Based in Regensburg, Germany, we equip publishers to effortlessly deliver real-time updates, captivating content, and standout live coverage. From breaking news to events and sports, we've got the tools to make your coverage a success. Interested in more? Let's chat!