How to vet social media real quick

Welcome back after the “break,” reporters! What a time to be alive. There was a certain news event at our capitol that you may have heard of that inspired this tool.

First Draft News offers a checklist for verifying social media information before you publish it - or even really considering it as an artifact of a certain time or place.

If you don’t want to read the whole guide, I would recommend skipping to the Five Pillars (Source, Date, Location, Motivation and Provenance) and the flowchart for decision-making. Below those, you’ll find tools that will help you actually hold up the pillars.

Since I know we’re all busy reporters, and I’m realistic, I would recommend pulling this out for high-stakes incidents like the one at the Capitol, or for photos you’re just generally suspicious of.

On the plus side, just looking up that guide introduced me to three new tools I’ve never heard of. First Draft is always so on top of the game. Good luck out there!

Did you miss the last TFR? Catch up on a year with the best tools of 2020