Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation 122 pages, pdf  Download Back

Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation

Publisher: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Volume: 122 pages, pdf

Description:

To serve as a model curriculum, this handbook is designed to give journalism educators and trainers, along with students of journalism, a framework and lessons to help navigate the issues associated with ‘fake news’. We also hope that it will be a useful guide for practising journalists.

It draws together the input of leading international journalism educators, researchers and thinkers who are helping to update journalism method and practice to deal with the challenges of misinformation and disinformation. The lessons are contextual, theoretical and in the case of online verification, extremely practical. Used together as a course, or independently, they can help refresh existing teaching modules or create new offerings. A suggestion of How to use this handbook as a model curriculum follows this introduction.

There was debate over the use of the words ‘fake news’ in the title and lessons. ‘Fake news’ is today so much more than a label for false and misleading information, disguised and disseminated as news. It has become an emotional, weaponised term used to undermine and discredit journalism. For this reason, the terms misinformation, disinformation and ‘information disorder’, as suggested by Wardle and Derakhshan2 , are preferred, but not prescribed.