Fact Checking: Things That Google Is Doing To Help Journalists
Google has acknowledged that "fake news" is a persistent and challenging problem and has the potential to impact society at large. To guard journalists from falling prey to false news stories, Google has taken recent actions such as, support of AMP, the Google News Initiative and updating its algorithm. By investing in AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), Google is investing in a better user experience for digital news solidifying its position as a trusted "content hub" for news consumers.
Google has trained hundreds of journalists all across India on fact-checking, online verification and digital hygiene. Google launched Google News Initiative (GNI) Training Network in India in partnership with BoomLive, DataLeads, and Internews. The training workshops were conducted by Google in various languages such as English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada in cities across India.
The selected journalists were trained in person by global verification experts and top Indian fact-checkers, including First Draft, Storyful, AltNews, BoomLive, Factchecker.in, and DataLeads. Further, the network of certified trainers trained more journalists in and around their region at two-day, one-day and half-day workshops organised by the network.
The Google News Initiative (GNI) is focused on three objectives:
Google has also announced a series of steps it will be taking to promote 'authoritative content' on YouTube.
