Case study: Disaster reporting
Every time a disaster happens, an enormous amount of disinformation is disseminated in addition to objective and truthful information. This happens according to recurring patterns. In this case study we investigate what good journalism is, what types of disinformation are disseminated over and over again during disasters, why this happens and how we can recognize this disinformation.
Recommended for: higher secondary education students, university students, adult learners
Tags: disasters, conspiracy theories, disinformation, Notre Dame fire
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Disasters are reported on official and recongnized news channels and on offical websites, and alsoon social media. In a first phase, there's the initial breaking news reporting and in a second phase the reporting on longer term. During the breaking news phase the reporting will be done by professional journalists and reporters (professional journalism), and also by eye witnesses, care givers, victims or just by witnesses by hearsay (citizen journalism). The line between sensation and information and between true and false information is thin and news will be spread at a fast pace. During the longer term phase, professionals and citizen will look for answers, and point out causes and causers. In this block the process of disaster reporting is discovered, explained and analyzed.
Disasters are reported on official and recongnized news channels and on offical websites, and alsoon social media. In a first phase, there's the initial breaking news reporting and in a second phase the reporting on longer term. During the breaking news phase the reporting will be done by professional journalists and reporters (professional journalism), and also by eye witnesses, care givers, victims or just by witnesses by hearsay (citizen journalism). The line between sensation and information and between true and false information is thin and news will be spread at a fast pace. During the longer term phase, professionals and citizen will look for answers, and point out causes and causers. In this block the process of the Notre-Dame disaster reporting is discovered, explained and analyzed.
When a disaster that affect a large group of people, a community or a country happens, a process of spreading of mis- and disinformation starts immediately. In this block we dig deeper into the way this process started during the Notre Dame fire, what media types and social media were used, who was behind it and where the false content, images, videos came from.
Why is mis- and disinformation produced and spread during and in the afttermath of a disaster? Who benefits and makes a profit from it? In this block we will discover and deduct the reasons and the system behind producing and spreading disinformation on the Notre Dame fire.
When a disaster happens, everyone wants to get answers to the questions what, why, how, where and who is involved in the disaster. In this block the focus is on fasle information detection and finding reliable information: which websites report objective and reliable reports of a disaster and how can the authenticity of these websites be checked. In case of doubt, we will learn how to use fact checkers, inverse image searches and how to detect false profiles, based on the Notre Dame fire. In a final assignment each student will analyze a specific case of disaster reporting and the producing and spreading of mis- and disinformation.
Warning
You have selected a topic from the Disinformation Games area. Please be advised that this area hosts, or links to, resources that contain misinformation or disinformation. The presence of such materials is to assist in developing and sustaining skills for navigating and detecting disinformation. To achieve this goal – and with clear intent – none of the materials are explicitly marked as true or not true.