Verification Handbook
Index
Foreword
4
Chapter 1: When Emergency News Breaks
5
Case Study 1.1: Separating Rumor From Fact in a Nigerian Conflict Zone
11
Chapter 2: Verification Fundaments: Rules to Live By
13
Case Study 2.1: Using Social Media as a Police Scanner
17
Chapter 3: Verifying User-Generated Content
Case Study 3.1: Monitoring and Verifying During the Ukrainian Parliamentary Election
Chapter 4: Verifying Images
23
30
33
Case Study 4.1: Verifying a Bizarre Beach Ball During a Storm
40
Case Study 4.2: Verifying Two Suspicious “Street Sharks” During Hurricane Sandy
42
Chapter 5: Verifying Video
45
Case Study 5.1: Verifying a Key Boston Bombing Video
52
Case Study 5.2: Investigating a Reported ‘Massacre’ in Ivory Coast
57
Case Study 5.3: Confirming the Location and Content of a Video
65
Chapter 6: Putting the Human Crowd to Work
68
Case Study 6.1: Tripped Up by Arabic Grammar
74
Chapter 7: Adding the Computer Crowd to the Human Crowd
Case study 7.1: How OpenStreetMap Used Humans and Machines to Map Affected Areas After Typhoon Haiyan
Chapter 8: Preparing for Disaster Coverage
Case Study 8.1: How NHK News Covered, and Learned From, the 2011 Japan Earthquake
Chapter 9: Creating a Verification Process and Checklist(s)
76
81
84
90
95
Box 9.1: Assessing and Minimizing Risks When Using UGC
102
Box 9.2: Tips for Coping With Traumatic Imagery
104
Chapter 10: Verification Tools
106
Appendix: “VISUALIZE JUSTICE:
A Field Guide to Enhancing the Evidentiary Value of Video for Human Rights”
109
5