FIR #335: BBC Fires a Shot in the Disinformation War

BBC Verify is the venerable broadcaster’s latest effort to combat disinformation. With a staff of 60 journalists, Verify will provide details about the BBC’s own reporting and debunk disinformation it finds online (as it has already done with a photo purportedly of a Pentagon bombing that was, in fact, AI-generated). Are there lessons in the BBC’s approach that communicators can apply to their companies’ online activities? And will other media outlets follow suit, even as they slash budgets and newsrooms? ---- The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, June 18. We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com. Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music. You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s Asides blog is also available. Link from this report: No, a viral photo does not show an explosion near the Pentagon BBC News puts transparency at its heart with BBC Verify Explaining the ‘how’ – the launch of BBC Verify How BBC Verify found and analysed Russia’s defences Marianna Spring on Twitter Satellite analysis by BBC Verify has uncovered some of Russia’s extensive defences as it prepares for a major Ukrainian counter-attack. BBC launches new 60-journalist team to counteract fake news