The Verification HandBook

12. The Verification HandBook Assignment for Wednesday

13. Verification An important component of curation

14. How credible is the information? • How important is it to your audience? • And how urgent is the situation? What to consider

15. How to verify?

16. Does the source provide a name, picture, bio and any  links to their own blog, identity, professional occupation, etc., on their page? • If no name, does searching for this name on Google, Facebook or LinkedIn provide any further clues? Check things out: Twitter bio

17. Is this a new Twitter handle with only a few tweets? If so, be wary. • The more tweets, the better able you can scrutinize evidence of political bias, misinformation. Check things out: tweets

18. Is this a one-issue tweeter?   • Behind every tweeter should be a personality. A tweet history consumed with one or two issues may be suspect.   Check things out: tweets

19. Does the source have a large following? If there are only a few, are any of the followers know and credible sources? • How many lists has this Twitter handle been added to. • How many Twitter users does the Twitter handle follow? Are these known and credible sources? Check things out: followers

20. Retweets: • What type of content? • Retweeted by known and credible sources? Location: • Can the source's geographic location be ascertained? Are they nearby the unfolding events? • Examine during which periods of the day/night the source tweets the most. This may provide an indication as to the person's time zone. Check this out

21. Timing: • Does the source appear to be tweeting in near real-time? Or are there considerable delays? • Does anything appear unusual about the timing of the person's tweets? Check this out

22. Social authentication: If you're still unsure about the source's reliability, use your own social network -- Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn -- to find out if anyone in your network know about the source's reliability. • Media authentication: Is the source quoted by trusted media outlets? Authenticate

23. Tweet them back and ask them for further information. NPR's Andy Carvin has employed this technique particularly well. For example, you can tweet back and ask for the source of the report and for any available pictures, videos, etc. • Place the burden of proof on the source. Engage the source

24. Official: Do police, firefighters, traffic cameras or any other official sources of information back up the claim? • Social: Are other social network users posting similar, independent reports from the same location? If a tornado really touched down in a city of 8 million people, for example,  there ought to be more than one photo of it. Corroboration

25. There are a number of challenges that face journalists handling UGC, most notably the issue of verification. Most broadly, do we know exactly what we are seeing, and how we have determined this? We should seek to tell the story surrounding each piece of video and audio and every photo we acquire with the level of accuracy people expect from the AP. This means tapping into our considerable knowledge base, drawing on the expertise of AP staff around the world. AP on verification

26. Securing access to content can often be a challenge, especially in a breaking news situation when video or photos have been re-posted to social networks. You must always strive to seek the original source of the media you are seeking to acquire. Once that content owner has been identified, ask for permission to use the material, following all the established protocols the AP has in place. AP on verification

27. You must always strive to seek the original source of the media you are seeking to acquire. Once that content owner has been identified, ask for permission to use the material, following all the established protocols the AP has in place. AP on verification

28. When publishing UGC, you should make every effort to give due credit to the person who has created that content. Use the person’s name if he or she is happy for you to do so, or a username (from a social network or platform) if it is applicable or the preference of the individual. AP on verification

30. “In real-time journalism, declaring what you won’t report can be just as important as what you will.” • – Craig Silverman

31. How important is the information to the news that you’re covering? Is it a fundamental claim (“There was a shooting at the fireworks tonight”) or an incidental fact (There must have been 5,000 people at the fireworks tonight”)? Determine importance

32. How important is the story to your general newsgathering mission? Is the overall story something important enough to consider taking a risk? Or is it a minor story with little public impact or interest? Determine importance

33. What are the risks and rewards of publishing this information?  • If it turns out to be wrong, what damage would your report have caused? If it’s true and you withhold it, how underinformed would your readers be? Determine importance

34. What damage could be caused by waiting? • Is there a benefit to waiting? • If you are dealing with a report of an alleged ongoing public safety incident, you must consider the value of alerting others to the potential danger as soon as possible. How urgent?

35. Patrick Meier • Poynter • Associated Press Sources

36. Poynteron restraint • Craig Silverman on verification • The World's Best Twitter Account Additional readings for next week.