For instance, it may be more effective (PDF) to “name and shame” dishonest politicians and pundits who promote misinformation. Doing so could increase the reputational costs of false claims and thereby help change future elite behavior. These effects will be compounded if corrections help to create an elite consensus rejecting a particularly notorious false claim, which can shape public opinion and create pressure on individual political figures to not make false statements. Even if corrections are sometimes ineffective at the individual level, fact-checking efforts that change the balance of elite beliefs on an issue can have powerful effects.
United States Project
10:52 AM - February 29, 2012
Countering Misinformation: Tips for Journalists
Avoid negations, use graphics, and get the story right the first time!
‘See you on the other side’ - Meet Jessica Lum, a terminally ill 25-year-old who chose to spend what little time she had practicing journalism
#Realtalk: This is the best moment to be in journalism - The old stuff isn’t coming back, but that’s okay
Streams of consciousness - Millennials expect a steady diet of quick-hit, social-media-mediated bits and bytes. What does that mean for journalism?
Sticking with the truth - How ‘balanced’ coverage helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism
An ink-stained stretch - Can Aaron Kushner save the Orange County Register—and the newspaper industry?
This is the best moment to be in journalism (25)
The WSJ editorial page hits rock bottom (19)
The completist guide to Star Trek
Matt Yglesias watched every Star Trek movie and every episode of every TV show in the franchise
The uncomfortable questions not raised by Benghazi
The press and Congress are asking the wrong questions
Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal
A video that appears to show Toronto’s mayor smoking crack is being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade
Why the underwear-bomber leak infuriated the Obama administration
The threat of even grander leaks
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
Good tips. You might want to suggest using www.votesmart.org to help with the fact-checking.
#1 Posted by Joanie Davis, CJR on Fri 2 Mar 2012 at 05:54 PM
Is there any clearer reason than your article as to why amateurs are causing some of the problems in the media? If, after so much time has elapsed since the start of widespread citizen-journalism, you must state a tip to "Use credible sources," maybe your last tip should be to "When unsure, leave your pen and notebook at home and see a movie instead."
My advice is to read Eric Hoffer's True Believer, get a better perspective on big-picture happenings and to be suspect of everyone.
By the way, votesmart.org is far from an objective source for facts. A simple review of the founders will elucidate this.
#2 Posted by Ed, CJR on Tue 6 Mar 2012 at 06:16 PM