UNESCO – Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation

To serve as a model curriculum, this handbook is designed to give journalism educators
and trainers, along with students of journalism, a framework and lessons to help
navigate the issues associated with ‘fake news’. We also hope that it will be a useful
guide for practising journalists.
It draws together the input of leading international journalism educators, researchers
and thinkers who are helping to update journalism method and practice to deal with the
challenges of misinformation and disinformation. The lessons are contextual, theoretical
and in the case of online verification, extremely practical. Used together as a course, or
independently, they can help refresh existing teaching modules or create new offerings.
A suggestion of How to use this handbook as a model curriculum follows this introduction.
There was debate over the use of the words ‘fake news’ in the title and lessons.
‘Fake news’ is today so much more than a label for false and misleading information,
disguised and disseminated as news. It has become an emotional, weaponised term
used to undermine and discredit journalism. For this reason, the terms misinformation,
disinformation and ‘information disorder’, as suggested by Wardle and Derakhshan2, are
preferred, but not prescribed3 4.
Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and ‘Fake News’, Disinformation
and Propaganda
This handbook has been produced in a context of growing international concern about
a ‘disinformation war’ in which journalism and journalists are prime targets. In early
2017, as this project was being commissioned by UNESCO, a relevant joint statement
was issued by the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression,
the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, the Organisation of American
States’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, and the African Commission on
Human and People’s Rights Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access
to Information. The Declaration expressed alarm at the spread of disinformation and propaganda, and attacks on news media as ‘fake news’. The Rapporteurs and
Representatives specifically acknowledged the impacts on journalists and journalism:
“(We are) Alarmed at instances in which public authorities denigrate, intimidate
and threaten the media, including by stating that the media is “the opposition” or
is “lying” and has a hidden political agenda, which increases the risk of threats and
violence against journalists, undermines public trust and confidence in journalism
as a public watchdog, and may mislead the public by blurring the lines between
disinformation and media products containing independently verifiable facts.” 5
Disinformation is an old story, fuelled by new technology
Mobilising and manipulating information was a feature of history long before modern
journalism established standards which define news as a genre based on particular rules
of integrity. An early record dates back to ancient Rome6, when Antony met Cleopatra
and his political enemy Octavian launched a smear campaign against him with “short,
sharp slogans written upon coins in the style of archaic Tweets.”7 The perpetrator
became the first Roman Emperor and “fake news had allowed Octavian to hack the
republican system once and for all”.8
But the 21st century has seen the weaponisation of information on an unprecedented
scale. Powerful new technology makes the manipulation and fabrication of content
simple, and social networks dramatically amplify falsehoods peddled by States, populist
politicians, and dishonest corporate entities, as they are shared by uncritical publics.
The platforms have become fertile ground for computational propaganda9, ‘trolling’10
and ‘troll armies’11; ‘sock-puppet’ networks’12, and ‘spoofers’13. Then, there is the arrival of
profiteering ‘troll farms’ around elections.