Deepfakes, misinformation and disinformation and authenticity infrastructure responses: Impacts on frontline witnessing, distant witnessing, and civic journalism

Frontline witnessing and civic journalism are impacted by the rhetoric and the reality of misinformation and disinformation. This essay highlights key insights from activities of the human rights and civic journalism network WITNESS, as they seek to prepare for new forms of media manipulation, such as deepfakes, and to ensure that an emergent “authenticity infrastructure” is in place to respond to global needs for reliable information without creating additional harms. Based on global consultations on perceived threats and prioritized solutions, their efforts are primarily targeted towards synthetic media and deepfakes, which not only facilitate audiovisual falsification (including non-consensual sexual images) but also, by being embedded in societal dynamics of surveillance and civil society suppression, they challenge real footage and so undermine the credibility of civic media and frontline witnessing (also known as “liar’s dividend”). They do this within a global context where journalists and some distant witness investigators self-identify as lacking relevant skills and capacity, and face inequity in access to detection technologies. Within this context, “authenticity infrastructure” tracks media provenance, integrity, and manipulation from camera to edit to distribution, and so comes to provide “verification subsidies” that enable distant witnesses to properly interpret eye-witness footage. This “authenticity infrastructure” and related tools are rapidly moving from niche to mainstream in the form of initiatives the Content Authenticity Initiative and Coalition for Content Authenticity and Provenance, raising key questions about who participates in the production and dissemination of audiovisual information, under what circumstances and to which effect for whom. Provenance risks being weaponized unless key concerns are integrated into infrastructure proposals and implementation. Data may be used against vulnerable witnesses, or the absence of a trail, for legitimate privacy and technological access reasons, used to undermine credibility. Regulatory and extra-legal co-option are also a fear as securitized “fake news” laws proliferate. The investigation of both phenomena, deepfakes and emergent authenticity infrastructure(s), this paper argues, is important as it highlights the risks related both to the “information disorder” of deepfakes as they challenge the credibility and safety of frontline witnesses and to responses to such “disorder,” as they risk worsening inequities in access to tools for mitigation or increasing exposure to harms from technology infrastructure.

Social Projects by Local Media as a Tool for the Development of Local Communities: Starting Points

Despite the widespread concepts of “civic journalism”, “social journalism”, “community-centered journalism”, “citizens journalism”, social projects implemented by the local media remain insufficiently studied. Journalists initiate and organize public discussions on hot issues, defend the rights of low-income families and World War II veterans, raise money for operations. The current research conducted at the School of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University examined the phenomenon of journalists’ participation in solving social issues of local communities. We analyzed the descriptions of 126 social projects by local media and 25 questionnaires. The article discusses the factors that influence decision-making on the implementation of social projects. The authors present the themes, aims of social projects, and 15 types of initiation of social projects, give examples of constructive and nonconstructive relations between journalists and representatives of authorities, business, NGOs in initiation and implementation of social projects. The authors noted that journalists and citizens, to a greater extent than representatives of local authorities, business, NGOs, are initiators of solving social problems and developing the local community. The findings appear to demonstrate that by initiating and realizing social projects, local media are fulfilling the meta-function of the development of civil society. The authors highlight the necessity of supporting journalistic initiatives.

Towards (Hyper)Local Public Sphere: Comparison of Civic Engagement across the Global North

The role of hyperlocal media is of increasing relevance as traditional local journalism experiences a decline due to centralisation and consolidation. The affordances of Internet and digital technologies also enable hyperlocal initiatives to enhance civic engagement in localities and serve as a place and resource for local deliberative processes. This study examines how the aims, perceptions and practices of hyperlocal media vary in three countries of the Global North—Sweden, Finland and Russia—and what implications this has for connectedness and civic engagement in local public spheres. The context of different media systems and local political regimes help to explore possibilities and limitations of hyperlocals as agents of place-oriented civic engagement. The data includes interviews with practitioners and analysis of selected hyperlocal media. Our results indicate that hyperlocal media practitioners in all three countries aim to provide local people and communities with a voice, and to enhance resident engagement in local life. We reveal three civic roles of hyperlocal media: (i) information provider, (ii) community builder, and (iii) civic mediator. Practices of civic engagement used by hyperlocal media range from relying on civic journalism to fostering civic debates and can be classified in two main categories: civic information and civic debate and interaction. The perceptions and practices of these hyperlocal media are, to some extent, similar because of comparable changes and challenges regarding the local media and public spheres. At the same time, the perceptions of civic roles vary, reflecting both the developments and differences in the countries’ media spheres and political regimes. This research raises a critical question about hyperlocal practitioners’ understanding of their own roles and aims, and in addition, how differences in media cultures and local regimes affect their performance as agents of local public spheres.

BiH Info-portals and Commentary Section During Info/Pan/Demic: Searching for Values

This paper deals with the analysis of the effects and perception of infoemia both on social networks and in the sphere of civic journalism during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparative analysis of the perception of the COVID-19 virus pandemic in developed democratic societies and its repercussions (to the audience above all) and comparison with the informational values of comments on the most visited online portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the essence of this work. In pursuing these goals, the work is divided into two parts. The first part of the paper analyzes the existential dissemination of information about the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemics in the world with a focus on social networks and citizen writing – an audience about pandemics that has undoubtedly taken all the notes of infodemium where it is difficult to determine the information value of comments or writing prosumer. Web 2.0 as the dominant dissemination tool of all types of media content and the general approach and freedom of commenting have influenced the experience and – consecutive – perception of the available information. The informative cacophony affected the audience (which is also a generator of “informative” content) in several ways mentioned in the first part of the paper. The second part of the work deals exclusively with the analysis of the content of comments on several of the most visited informational portals of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most comments have been found to lack usable information value and contribute to media cacophony, and from the point of view of the value of news usually do not provide useful information or at best provide information whose credibility (although they may seem plausible and/or argumentative) cannot be easily verified. The conclusion of the paper is that the information value of comments from visitors to bh information portals is not particularly high in the slightest regard from the content level with rare examples of (semi)quality information of usable content.

Social and Legal Aspects of Constructing the Identity of Russians in the Media Discourse

Reflection on the scientific level of new media practices and systematization of a positive experience is impossible without identifying and describing the problem components and contradictions that characterize the modern informa­tion space in Russia or its particular regions. First of all, it determines the fact that the first decades of the 21st century marked the beginning of a new stage in the study of rapidly transforming media systems. Secondly, when studying the impact of these processes on the representatives of modern Russian society as a whole and its groups, the digital revolution assumes that not only the mo­bilization resources of social theories and actual practices are defined, but also predetermines the formation of a legal framework for the mass media, which must meet the requirements of time and the demands of society. The third part of the monograph “Mass Media as a Mediator of Communicative-Cultural Memory” is devoted to this problem. The legal field of journalism of the digital age and the legal aspect of the identity of Russians are considered in the context of their mutual influence. The axiological context of ethical and philosophical dominance in modern media texts and the analysis of the role of the media in maintaining positive ethnic identity has allowed the authors to consider several problematic nodes of actual practice at various levels of social dynamics. In particular, it has been proved that since it is through culture, as well as through media culture as a special type of culture, that the individual is socialized and society thus largely regulates the behaviour of individuals and groups, the consideration of culture as an Univer­sum opens wide prospects for research into the functioning of journalism as a social institution under the new conditions. The results of the sociological research carried out by the authors testi­fied that professional activity for the overwhelming number of respondents in conditions of active influence of the global network and possibilities of new information technologies became inseparable with personal intentions. They are reflected in their public discourse, the product of a more or less argumentative discussion of a fact, a problem situation, which is based on an openly broadcast text. It has been proved that modern practice allows the public discourse of a journalist, which influences the formation of primarily communicative memory of media audience representatives, to be differentiated into three levels: com­municative-event, communicative-containing and communicative-predictive. Today, mass media should be not only an information resource but also a platform (channel, tool) for presenting the whole range of opinions and de­veloping various initiatives of active representatives of this or that societies. Information activities of non-professionals in the media sphere, most often referred to as civic journalism, should in practice become an important factor in the development of conventional (contractual) and communication (dialogue) strategies. At the same time, the mythologization of reality, even via ethnic ste­reotypes broadcast by some media and bloggers, is a complex and controversial formation that manifests itself specifically at different levels of mass conscious­ness. It can contribute both to the emergence of new images, different views of reality, and the accumulation of incorrect opinions, false ideas, manifestations of aggression. The result is social, cultural, religious and political myths, sometimes even leading to various antisocial actions. Therefore, it is concluded that professional media activity requires from communicators, along with ethical and legal enlightenment and active life po­sition manifestation, the skills of creative (non-traditional, non-stereotypical) information expression in media texts.

O Civic Journalism / Public Journalism examinado por um de seus criadores

Davis Merritt é uma lenda no Jornalismo internacional. Lenda no melhor sentido que a palavra pode ter. Autor de quatro livros (o mais recente em 2015, chamado On life, liberty and the pursuit of perfect), esteve no topo do Jornalismo americano por mais de quatro décadas, atuando especialmente para a cadeia Knight Newspapers. Atuou como professor na University of Kansas e na Wichita State University. E, entre 1975 e 1997, atuou na liderança do Wichita Eagle, um diário no qual faria história, ao lançar as bases do que hoje se conhece como Civic Journalism (CJ), uma proposta fundada na visão de que, mais do que simplesmente denunciar problemas da vida em sociedade, o jornalista deve pensar em soluções e, especialmente, estimular a participação do cidadão na vida coletiva.Na entrevista a seguir, Merritt compartilha informações preciosas sobre esse movimento que surgiu no final da década de 1980, ganhou corpo nos anos 1990 e começou a definhar a partir de 2000. No auge, o Civic Journalism era notícia e produzia notícias nos EUA, Colômbia, Bolívia, Argentina, Brasil, Portugal, Espanha e em muitos outros países. Agora, mais de 30 anos depois de suas primeiras inquietações sobre os rumos de então do Jornalismo, Merritt rememora os tempos inaugurais (inclusive destacando o papel de Jay Rosen, considerado o outro criador do Civic Journalism), esclarece a questão Civic Journalism / Public Journalism (que, aliás, ele prefere, como se percebe em todas as suas respostas) e pensa sobre o tempo presente.Sobre este quesito Civic Journalism / Public Journalism, cabe destacar o que segue: todos as perguntas feitas a Merritt fazem menção ao Civic Journalism, já que esta é a denominação mais conhecida no Brasil e em outras nações. Merritt, como ponderado antes, prefere Public Journalism (PJ). Por uma questão de respeito à opinião do entrevistado, mantivemos PJ em suas respostas. Essa dualidade, inclusive, é parte da riqueza dessa conversa sobre uma das mais inovadoras formas de se pensar e fazer Jornalismo nos últimos 50 anos.

The Civic Journalism / Public Journalism examined by one of its creators

Davis Merritt is a legend in International Journalism. Legend in the best sense that the word can have. Author of four books (the most recent in 2015, called On life, liberty and the pursuit of perfect), has been at the top of American Journalism for more than four decades, working especially for the Knight Newspapers chain. He served as a professor at the University of Kansas and at Wichita State University. Between 1975 and 1997, he served as head of the Wichita Eagle, a diary in which he would make history, laying the foundations of what is now known as Civic Journalism (CJ), a proposal founded on the idea that, rather than simply denouncing life's problems in society, the journalist must think about solutions and, especially, stimulate citizen participation in collective life.In the following interview, Merritt shares invaluable information about this movement that emerged in the late 1980s, gained in the 1990s, and began to languish in 2000. In its maximum moment, the Civic Journalism was news and produced news in the US, Colombia , Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and many other countries. Merritt recalls the inaugural times (including highlighting the role of Jay Rosen, considered the other creator of CJ), clarifies the Civic Journalism / Public Journalism (more than 30 years after his initial concerns about Journalism's, so he prefers, as one perceives in all his answers) and thinks about the present time.On this issue Civic Journalism / Public Journalism (PJ), it is possible to emphasize what follows: all the questions made to Merritt make mention to the Civic Journalism, since this is the denomination better known in Brazil and in other places. As a matter of respect for the interviewee's opinion, we kept PJ in his responses. This duality is part of the richness of this talk about one of the most innovative ways of thinking and doing Journalism in the last 50 years.