AKEED, Aya Khawaldeh

French journalist Yann Guégan^* delivered a lecture titled "Media Evolution" at the French Cultural Center on Tuesday evening, 11 April, in which he spoke about the importance of educating journalists about how to handle sources of information and what is published on social media sites in light of the digital revolution we are experiencing today. In the lecture, Guegan discussed a number of examples of fake news, which the media published and which had a clear impact on the opinions of the public. He gave two examples, which are the referendum on Brexit and the U.S. presidential elections.

Guégan thinks that the digital revolution has enabled citizens to diversify their sources of information. However, amid infobesity, fakes, scams, false information, and conspiracy theories, it is hard for readers or users of these sites and outlets to find correct information.  

To help journalists verify and validate news, Guégan discussed the initiatives by some media outlets to regain control through checking the accuracy of information. These include an application called This Is Fake, which identifies articles on Facebook that spread false information and allows users to inform their friends when they share a fake story. Once it is identified as a fake story, it will be flagged with a red banner over the preview image, indicating that it has been debunked.

The lecturer referred to another example of initiatives, which is "les-decodeurs," a website affiliated with the French newspaper Le Monde. The site verifies all forms of data, including statistics, figures, laws, and dates. It also explores current issues and the validity of information reported on them and the accuracy of the sources adopted by media outlets and from which they derived their information.

He referred to the initiative of The New York Times through its monitor The Upshot, which also analyzes and verifies information and data on media outlets and sites and prepares reports on it.

Since Facebook is often accused of spreading lies and false information on its pages because of the large number of its users, Guégan noted that this social platform is developing methods of exposing lies and controlling the posting of this false information.

Concerning the example of media practices on Brexit, the lecturer presented a number of false reports and news items that prompted the British to vote for Brexit. Many British newspapers published reports about the disadvantages of staying in the EU. These include Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Sun, and Daily Star. Some of them claimed that Britain was paying 350 million pounds sterling weekly to the EU and that there was a plan to open the doors of Britain to the migration of 1 million Turks. He accused some of them of spreading incorrect information on the arrival of millions of migrants in Britain from all over Europe.

In the second example, the lecturer noted that the media, around the time of the U.S. elections, caused the emergence of the term "post-truth media," which refers to the decline of the role of facts in shaping public opinion in a world dominated by populist rhetoric that relies on fueling emotions and fears. During the elections, media establishments adopted and promoted a number of false news reports, including reports related to a child sexual exploitation ring, run by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. This is in addition to lies attributed to Donald Trump on his rejection of the Iraq war before its eruption and news about massive crowds supporting Hillary Clinton, while it was a concert that preceded one of her meetings. Also, one of the most significant false reports had to do with Pope Francis supporting Donald Trump during the election campaign.

This fake news, according to Guégan, created new trends on the part of American voters. Exit polls showed that Democratic candidate Clinton had won by 80%, while Trump eventually won the largest number of votes.

At the end of his lecture, Guégan underlined the role of journalists in revealing and clarifying incorrect information and working to prevent its circulation and promotion. This is one of their key tasks in a job that demands high credibility and professionalism.

^* French journalist Yann Guégan is founder of Dans mon labo (in my lab), a French website seeking to help media in their digital projects. Former deputy editor in chief of Rue89, a French general-interest news website, he also worked for several French print media such as Libération, L"Express and Télérama. He professionalized himself in datajournalism techniques, webdesign tricks, and useful programming languages.