The revolution of user-generated news content presents a great opportunity to expand the web and the world itself. But it also raises new challenges for the news industry. In order to verify authentic and genuine information, the First Draft Coalition is formed.
The First Draft Coalition is a group of thought leaders and pioneers in social media journalism who are teaming up to answer these questions through training and analysis of eyewitness media.
Founding members are: Facebook, Twitter, Bellingcat, Eyewitness Media Hub, Emergent, Meedan, Reported.ly, Storyful, Verification Junkie, the Open Society Foundations and some others.
The coalition is supported by Google News Labs.
The site the First Draft forms publishes regular articles, interviews and reviews covering all aspects of handling eyewitness media, including the most effective techniques for discovery and verification alongside ethical and legal guidance for publishing and broadcasting.
When it was first launched, the First Draft News project that wants "to fight mis- and disinformation online" attracted experts and organisations working in the field.
It was only the next year that First Draft began coordinating "efforts between newsrooms, fact-checking organizations, and academic institutions to combat mis- and disinformation."
In order to make this happen, the Coalition members published how-to guides addressing, including ethics surrounding "use of eyewitness media" and how to "spot fake footage and hoaxes".