The verimedia manifesto (first draft)

Good journalism requires more than just a report of events, particularly when it comes to the political, societal or scientific arena. Without checking and documenting sources, without creating context and putting things into perspective, without critically checking statements and spin, it is impossible for readers, listeners and watchers to use media output to their benefit. These are the elements covered by the verimedia manifesto.

1. Strive for reproducible accuracy
   • Name and identify all relevant sources. Exceptions apply where anonymity is required to protect sources (see “Anonymous sources” below);
   • Aim at referencing all sources in a way that enables recipients to identify, and if publicly available, retrieve that source without effort;
   • Verify core elements of a piece’s statements with additional sources or – if impossible – check plausibility;
   • Separate facts from opinion by identifying both clearly.
2. Provide immediate context for your audience
   • Put core statements and data into current and historical context to clarify relevance and importance;
   • Explain potential consequences;
   • Research and quote contradicting evidence or relevant statements.

Here are a few examples of what the above suggestions could mean:

• Mention name and role of a person in a way that the person is identifiable*;
• When quoting scientific publications, mention organization/author(s), journal and include links;
• When drawing from PR statements or similar sources, clearly identify the nature of the source;
• For news agency sources: fully verify content or mark as “unverified”;
• Quote all data source(s) and provide links;
• Accurately transport the content of the original source, e.g.
  
  • don’t distort data by suggestively selecting a certain scale or date range;
  • don’t quote out of context.
• Put actions reported on (e.g. scandals, statements, etc.): in context with previous actions of others (e.g. answer to “how normal is this behavior?”)
• For scientific findings or new products, evaluate and discuss relevance, novelty, and contradicting evidence;
• For all content, clarify relevance and possible positive and negative effects for readers;

Special cases

1. Anonymous sources*

Even though it is unavoidable and important to work with anonymous sources in some cases, particularly in investigative journalism, special caution is warranted, by following these rules:

• Identify the nature of the message as in headline/first paragraph (e.g. using “rumor”, “Anonymous Hill source says”)
• Verify status and role of a person using public sources before quoting anonymously;
• Verify facts using other sources or original documents provided by source (including evidence check for tampering);
• Verifying the track record of a source to gauge credibility, and, where possible, include in article;
• Check validity/plausibility of statements with additional, possibly quotable sources;
• Offer an opportunity for comment to key targets affected by the publication, if feasible.

2. Portraits/Essays/Comments

While there is much more room for creative freedom when writing/producing with more depth, the application of the above principles are still relevant, particularly when it comes to identification and validation of sources and the creation of context that becomes the foundation upon which a picture is drawn.

Please help us improve the manifesto

The above is a first draft of the manifesto, and it is by no means perfect yet. Please highlight issues, suggest improvements, and send us your comments. The more feedback we receive, the better verimedia becomes.

verimedia engages the media

Given the important role of our media as an important pillar of a democratic society, verimedia wants to engage with as many journalists and media organizations as possible. We would like to encourage them to embrace their importance in the public decision-making process, instill the right sense of responsibility, and their support in making our manifesto and reviews as good, fair and meaningful as possible.

A push for news foundations with mixed revenue models

With very few exceptions, producing good journalism while making profits consistently are becoming mutually exclusive. We therefore encourage media institutions to reorganize in the form of foundations, establishing a mixed revenue model built on subscriptions, advertising revenue and donations. This reality also needs to be communicated in a way that a broad audience understands that the necessary information supporting our democratic decision-making comes at a price.

How to commit to the manifesto?

Committing to the verimedia manifesto is easy. By signing up at the bottom of our page, individual journalists can agree to commit to the verimedia manifesto in their future work. The same applies to entire news organizations. The consequences are that we will emphasize those sources with a commitment when labeling and reviewing news, demonstrating that they are striving to provide the journalism we need. There are no further requirements for a commitment, and no cost associated with it.

verimedia reviews news using the manifesto

Using the manifesto as a base, and applying a transparent rating scheme, relevant articles are reviewed and rated on a 1 to 10 scale for fact handling and context. This rating and the rationales behind are accessible online. A  draft of such a review is shown here.

Cumulative ratings are forgiving

After a journalist or a media organization has received a sufficient number of individual ratings, these form a cumulative quality rating that can be used independently, providing an indicator of how to value yet unrated content from that source. Cumulative ratings are forgiving, as the algorithm values more recent content higher. If a journalist or a media organization improve the quality based on adherence to the verimedia manifesto, this will show quickly.

The verimedia rating scheme (draft)

Important: the verimedia rating does not review opinions

We consider it important that news sources represent differing opinions, and therefore, we do not rate them. A conservative position, when based on journalism meeting the standards of factuality and context, is as relevant as a liberal one. We firmly believe that mistakes undermining the credibility of news sources are equally made on all ends of the spectrum of opinions.

Can you rate news for facts and context?

During the design phase of this project we have been asked many times: is it even possible to rate news based on facts and context delivery, or is what we call "facts" so subjective that it becomes impossible? There are two answers to this question.

The verimedia rating does take the typical approach of fact-checking beyond easily available information, instead it looks if an article meets the criteria of properly dealing with facts by cross-checking and referencing according to editorial standards.

Second, when looking at the current problems of journalism, we found that most issues of adherence to those minimal standards are not related to nuanced interpretations of reality, but instead  so blatantly obvious that we can absolutely rate it (which hopefully leads to improvements quickly).

The verimedia plugin catches most news links

To help users of online media to easily judge content, verimedia takes an active approach that does not rely on the collaboration or action of individual sources or social media sites. Instead, users can install a small browser plugin that scans content for news and assigns the verimedia rating.

verimedia's browser widget (shortly available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari) provides users with a quick and easy-to-understand pictogram next to news articles, search results and links to news in social media. With this, it becomes effortless to judge the trustworthiness and quality of a news article or source.

An efficient solution requiring no effort by social media sites

By scanning the user's browser window before displaying it, the verimedia plugin can catch much more than a website operator could accomplish. It is also much faster in labeling content after it appears, an important element in our fast-moving world. This is what it does:

• Search results: if a particular URL is in the list of reviewed news or sources, the verimedia indicator (red, orange, green) will show how trustworthy this source is;
• News and news aggregation sites: the verimedia indicator shows for each article, author and source (for aggregation sites);
• Social media: the verimedia indicator is displayed next to accounts with news content, but also next to external links leading to news sources.

Plugin download (available for beta testing)

The first beta versions of the verimedia plugin are currently available upon request, and the first public version will soon be published for download here. They can be installed in most browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari) with a simple mouse click. The plugin does not collect any personal information.

Please sign up for our newsletter to be notified as soon as the plugin is released.