To combat misinformation, news organizations are making plans to combat false election night stories

NEW YORK (AP) — As news outlets prepare for election night, they’re not just focusing on what’s happening. They are spying on what is not there.

There are various plans to combat misinformation in newsrooms. The culmination of a difficult campaign On November 5, The Associated Press and others will take special steps to explain what they are doing. The New York Times is assigning reporters to scour the internet for the first signs of new conspiracies. An NPR reporter will look for mischief created by artificial intelligence. ABC News tried “front bunks” to prepare its viewers.

false stories This fall’s aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which became embroiled in political debate, was a sobering reminder of how quickly events can spread.

“The biggest thing I worry about is the speed at which misinformation spreads and the lack of control that a news organization — any news organization — has over it,” said Julie Pace, editor-in-chief and senior vice president of The Associated Press. .

“All we can do is make sure we flood the space with accurate, fact-based information as quickly as possible to ensure that as misinformation spreads, fact-based reporting also spreads,” Pace said.

The AP’s specific role on election night is to tabulate the results of hundreds of elections across the country and make calls on winners and losers, taking into account raw data, polls and trends in past races. At the outlet during the campaign written stories showing He will specifically detail how this is done and why he is calling out individual states in the presidential contest on election night.

Other organizations are making similar promises, including telling people it’s too early to draw conclusions. “My mantra on election night is radical transparency,” said ABC News Washington bureau chief Rick Klein.

They ensure news consumers are prepared

The Times will soon bring back to its website the most troubling discovery in election night news: the Needle, which changes throughout the evening to gauge the likelihood of presidential candidates’ victory. This time around, it will be accompanied by more detailed material explaining those moves, deputy managing editor Matthew Ericson said.

The newspaper also assigns reporters to research conspiracy theories online on election night in an effort to debunk false stories as quickly as possible.

Disinformation monitoring efforts continued during the campaign, as did reporting organizations. fake harassment allegations He’s up against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who intelligence officials suspect is of Russian origin. In the wake of Helene in September, lies abounded, such as weather control and withholding money from Republican-dominated areas.

NBC News has a Vote Watch team that will work on Election Day to monitor misinformation efforts and has designated 30 reporters as “precinct captains” to keep watch in areas where voting is expected to be particularly tight. PBS is working with the PolitiFact fact-checking team on election night.

As journalists watch, they will have to weigh whether a false theory has attracted enough attention to be worth debunking, or whether bringing it up will make it stronger. This is Tim Richardson’s most common concern. journalism and misinformation program This is what PEN America’s director finds out while training reporters on how to deal with false stories.

“If this is something you only see on a platform on the sidelines, forget it,” Richardson said. “But if it’s something that rises to the level where a large segment of the public notices it and gains traction, then you have to step in and debunk it.”

They’re looking for vulnerabilities after the vote

Periods of uncertainty in tight elections are sensitive points. “My fear is that bad actors will come in to fill the gap,” Richardson said.

News organizations did not declare Joe Biden the winner in 2020 until the Saturday following election day.. Klein said it’s important for journalists to let people know that such delays in counting votes don’t necessarily mean something bad is happening. This may take time to fix.

But the period four years ago was when former President Donald Trump’s false narrative that he was deceived took root. His talking early in the morning Alleging fraud on election night and claiming that he won states where he did not give a serious test to the TV networks that broadcast his remarks live. If something similar happens during public speaking engagements or interviews this year, networks will need to be ready for disruption or fact-checking immediately.

ABC News is airing a “Protect Your Vote” series this fall highlighting false stories that are already spreading and can be expected to increase in intensity closer to or on election day; There is also a “legend” among them. flood of non-citizen voters. Similarly, both Scott Pelley of CBS’ “60 Minutes” and Laura Barron-Lopez of PBS’s “NewsHour” have done extensive reporting examining how fake election fraud stories spread in Arizona.

“For us, it doesn’t start or end with Election Day,” Klein said.

Eric said a disinformation team at NPR looked at the issue from a variety of angles, including the role of artificial intelligence and the influence of other countries, and spent a significant amount of time debunking the theory that noncitizens would vote. Marrapodi is vice president of news programming. Although NPR broadcasts election night live from 7 to 3 a.m. Eastern, the radio network traditionally reaches more listeners the next morning, he said.

“We have to make sure we verify everything,” Marrapodi said.

They are taking action for a new responsibility

News organizations feel the weight of responsibility for being dragged down, especially given how misinformation spreads.

“People are no longer sure what to believe because our information ecosystem is contaminated in so many ways,” said Richardson, a former Washington Post reporter.

“This is one of the most critical services we provide as a news organization,” said Carrie Budoff Brown, NBC News senior vice president of policy. “Doing things right is the top priority. One of the biggest nights for people who follow us for real information. We must fulfill this. We cannot hesitate.”

Election night coverage has changed dramatically since getting the count and analysis accurate became the main concern. Richardson hopes news outlets are prepared for what’s to come.

“I feel like we’re kind of in uncharted territory and I don’t know what’s going to emerge,” he said. “I hope the journalists are ready. I think they are.

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David Bauder writes about the media for the AP. follow him http://x.com/dbauder.