Getting It Right in an Election Year
When I’m not teaching at UIC or updating Journalist’s Toolbox™ AI, I do election fact-check trainings through a program I helped develop with RTDNA and the Google News Initiative.
The free workshops, available to newsrooms, journalism schools and journalism organizations and conferences, teach people how to detect deepfakes in text, video, audio and photos. Contact me at mikereilley1 [at] gmail [dot] com if you are interested in a free training.
The Republican National Convention is a week away and the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago next month. So I thought this would be a good time to share some election fact-checking tools with you.
Sponsor
Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our new sponsor at HeyNota.com
AI deepfakes and disinformation are rampant during big news events, particularly in an election year. While tools make it easier to create deepfakes, AI also makes it easier for us to detect them.
I’ll have some more tools to share this fall, but here’s a good starter guide:
Google Fact-Check Explorer
This tools allows you to not only search for fact-checks by a name or topic, it now lets you reverse image search in the tool. The image search update moved out of beta last spring and is available to all. Just click on the image icon on the right side of the search field.
Google’s Fact-Check Explorer
Google Image Search and TinEye
Reverse image search tools. Just paste in a photo link or upload one to see where the photo was first posted and when. RevEye is a Chrome browser extension that searches images across multiple search engines. | Video on how to use it
Rolliapp | Exercise
Full disclosure: Rolli advertises on my site and newsletter. The free tool helps you track disinformation and those spreading it on social channels. Very useful tools.
WatchFramebyFrame.com
Great for fact-checking videos. Paste the URL into player and hit the arrow keys to look at each shot frame by frame. Watch for shadows out of place, etc. (You can watch frame by frame in YouTube by using the comma and period keys after pausing the video. Comma moves backward and period forward.)
MapChecking.com
Fact-check/estimate crowd sizes (protests, rallies, etc.) | Video: How to use it
Deepfake-o-Meter
Check images, video and audio. Free but requires signup. Several AI detectors in the tool produce results by percentage.
Phone Validator
Use this database to verify phone numbers. Good way to detect robo-call and spam numbers. Test with some spam numbers: 772-229-4011, 447-245-2703. And test yours to see if it reads real.
Sponsor
Many exciting updates to Rolliapp 3.0! Limited number of complimentary memberships for Journalist’s Toolbox AI readers available with code: “JOURNOAI” at Rolli.ai
Want Training?
Contact Mike Reilley at mikereilley1 (at) gmail (dot) com to schedule an AI tools training for your staff.
Also consider a paid subscription to this newsletter or donate to Buy Me a Beer so I can build more training videos.
More AI Tools
Quick Geolocation Search
A simple tool helps save a lot of time when gathering information about geolocation. Enter latitude and longitude (or choose location on map) once and click the buttons with the names of online maps, to quickly jump to it.FactCheck Explorer Analysis Tools
Filter and analyze date from the Google Fact Check ExplorerDatabase Search Engine
Perform domain, name and keyword searches across more than 1,300 databases.Resizable Proportional Area Chart
Free tool to help you change the shape of the rectangles while keeping the areas the same. Just drag and resize. Created by data journalist Kristina Szucs.
Become a sponsor: Would you like to sponsor future Journalist’s Toolbox™ newsletters? Our rates are reasonable and our sponsors get results. Contact me at mikereilley1 [at] gmail [dot] com
Textbooks
The Journalist’s Toolbox
My new book, “The Journalist’s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI” will be published by Routledge in December. You can add the book to your wishlist and have the opportunity to pre-order it.
The book features tips, tricks and training videos on how to use digital tools, AI, mobile apps and more in your reporting. It makes for a great newsroom guide or textbook for reporting and digital courses. It’s available in “E-book Plus”, which embeds training videos and pop-ups directly into the book’s interface. It’s also available in paperback, hard cover and regular e-book format.
Data + Journalism
Samantha Sunne and I co-authored a textbook, “Data + Journalism” that’s available now on Routledge. (Order here). It’s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z.
In Quotes …
“Artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning — whatever you’re doing if you don’t understand it — learn it. Because otherwise, you’re going to be a dinosaur within three years.” – Mark Cuban
Follow me @itsmikereilley | @journtoolbox | Subscribe on YouTube | Subscribe to this newsletter
Copyright and Trademark 2024 | Mike Reilley