2. In the wake of the 2011 earthquake, many media outlets relied on press releases from the government and power company to report the situation at nuclear power plants. This was in part a result of limited access to the plants, and it meant we were unable to independently verify the information. To better prepare and ensure that we can present official information in a more accurate context, we now train journalists in scientific and specialized topics. We also seek out and present the opinions of multiple experts, and deliver forecasts of the impact of a quake and any nuclear power plant accidents. 3. People in disaster-affected areas used social media to connect with local print and radio outlets, and with one another. In order to ensure that our reporters use social media effectively when covering a disaster, NHK developed new guidelines that provide protocols to deal with user-generated content, such as including caveats related to the level of verification we were able to apply to a given piece of information. The guidelines also include advice on how to identify fake information. In addition, we established a “Social Listening” team that focuses on social media monitoring and verification. The team (seen below) makes heavy use of Twitter Lists to pre-establish a network of reliable sources for better monitoring and fact-checking when an event occurs. 4. NHK developed its own user-generated content platform, NHK ScoopBox. The platform gathers an uploader’s personal details and location, making it easier to directly contact and confirm their content. When a tornado struck Kanto region in September 2013, ScoopBox enabled us to source and verify 14 items of user-generated content that was used in national and local broadcasts. 95