Navigator: A Chatbot That Helps Journalists Deal With Trolls
Nov. 12, 2024
Editor’s note: You also can listen to a podcast on the topic that was created with Google’s Notebook LM AI tool.
A few years ago, I was harassed online by an alt-right group for several days. My crime? Speaking at a journalism conference.
When the organization running the conference offered no support, I immediately looked to TrollBusters, which provides guidance, research, training and support to journalists suffering from many types of harassment. TrollBusters’ advice worked, and the situation was diffused within a week.
So I was thrilled in October when I saw that TrollBusters released Navigator, an AI chatbot where journalists can turn to for advice. It’s training on TrollBusters content and offers detailed tips on dealing with a particular situation (depending on how much detail you are comfortable giving it).
“Our goal has always been to provide just-in-time education, training and support to journalists experiencing online harm,” said TrollBusters founder Michelle Ferrier in an email interview. “TrollBusters has been using machine learning and other social technologies to monitor and respond to online harassment since our launch in 2015. From our threat infographic to our Facebook chatbot, our social video explainer to this AI assistant, we are always seeking ways to get the right information and advice to journalists when they need it.”
Navigator runs off Claude AI and is trained on TrollBusters data, tips and other resources. It offers some starter prompts and allows you to upload documents for more detailed advice. It has versions for both the US and the UK. You can toggle between the two.
“We knew the trolls would keep coming, so we baked a three-layer cake,” Ferrier said of the tool’s construction. “We wanted to make navigating all the various avenues from legal redress to digital hygiene easy and from a trauma-informed approach. That means we understand deeply the context of harm to journalism work and the implications for journalists and their work.
“We take a resilience approach to counter the psychosocial dynamics of online campaigns against journalists. We bring that trauma-informed approach to our coaching and in how we deploy our resources.”
The cake layers
The icing is the UK jurisprudence
The top layer is 10 years of global press freedoms research, press freedoms around the globe and international law on freedom of expression and free press where applicable.
The second layer is TrollBusters secret recipe: training on professional practice, digital journalism and safety in a digital age.
The third layer is Claude's LLM, which brought the emotional valence we were looking for.
Anyone who has been harassed knows what a stressful time it can be, and how a little bit of kindness can go a long way. I was impressed by how TrollBusters trained the chatbot to show empathy when answering. I did a test prompt and here was the response, followed by eight useful tips:
I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing harassment on social media. This can be an extremely stressful situation for journalists. I'll try to provide some advice to help you navigate this:First and foremost, I want to check - are you currently safe? Do you feel you need any immediate support or assistance?Assuming you are not in immediate danger, here are some initial steps I would recommend:Remember, this is a bot responding to you, not a person. But it is trained to respond like a human would. It also repeats the empathic messaging at the end of the response and often offers links to useful resources.
“We tested several LLM models on our tool, which is not a teacher, but a triage tool for journalists,” Ferrier said. “We wanted the tool to be responsive to the context of hostility and violence surrounding threats and the psychosocial dynamics of online harassment, particularly against journalists. Our assistant is trained on our deep understanding of the effects on the professional work and the personal lives of journalists. We think Navigator on Claude balances professionalism with the right amount of empathy and care.
“The tool is cautious about allowing the user to disclose anything that may put them at further risk from disclosures. Navigator also has helped provide coaching on breathing and mindfulness, helping to mitigate some of the stresses when journalists are in distress.”
This is an important tool to share with all of your staff, particularly reporters covering hot-button issues and your social media desk.
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ONA AI in Journalism Trainings Extend Through the Fall
You can still sign up for the Online News Association/Microsoft AI in Journalism Initiative training program, which is continuing through fall 2024 with more sessions. The trainings are free for ONA members and $25 for non-members. You can register for the training here.
The trainings, which last 60 to 90 minutes, will run each month with a few extra trainings and mini-labs sprinkled in. They will be recorded for those who miss the live Zoom trainings or want to replay them. I helped them design the trainings and will conduct several of them.
Textbooks
The Journalist’s Toolbox
My new book, “The Journalist’s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI” was published by Routledge in December. You can order it here,
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.
It features examples, interviews, links to tools and dozens of practical exercises to learn how to find, scrape, clean, visualize and write with data. We also explore ethics, transparency and basic math skills. We even offer a bonus chapter — Chapter 13 — on diversity and inclusion for free on our blog.
In Quotes …
“AI is a mirror, reflecting not only our intellect, but our values and fears." – Ravi Narayanan, VP of Insights and Analytics, Nisum
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