By Deborah Potter.
There’s some good news from newsrooms around the world. More journalists than ever are making it a habit to fact-check information and to ensure that they communicate securely.
The International Center for Journalists survey of technology in global newsrooms found a substantial increase in the number of journalists using digital tools to verify information and to secure their communication.
“There is a major shift afoot as news outlets come under attack digitally and physically,” said ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan.
More than half of journalists say they regularly use digital tools for fact-checking. Only a quarter use social media verification tools, but that’s still twice as many as in 2017.
The biggest change has been in the use of secure communication tools. More than two-thirds of newsrooms and journalists worldwide say they are now using secure forms of communication, up from less than half two years ago. In the United States, secure communication is practiced by 82 percent of newsrooms. That said, less than half of journalists are using tools other than secure messaging. Email encryption and VPNs (virtual private networks) are used by just a quarter of respondents.
Newsrooms also are taking steps to rebuild public trust. The top four measures in use:
- Reporting more public interest stories (61 percent)
- Citing more sources (61 percent)
- Separating news from opinion pieces (47 percent)
- Posting primary documents (46 percent)
One surprise: Despite the escalating attacks on journalists in the United States, newsrooms in North America are among the least concerned about building audience trust. Less than 40 percent of newsrooms said they worried about that, compared to more than 50 percent in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
