As evolution of technology continues to rule the conversation of how media companies are keeping up and staying relevant, it means the commitment to truth, trust, and confidence is all the more crucial for media companies like the BBC. 

While the massive media company stands behind its longtime approach to “boots-on-the-ground” journalism, they’re also creating new products and brands to help combat misinformation and deep fakes.

The BBC has a presence in 118 countries and broadcasts its content in more than 200 countries and territories in over 40 languages. Jennie Baird, BBC’s executive vice president and managing director of digital news and streaming, told participants of INMA’s recent Latin American News Media Summit that this scale of reach is only possible by every employee being led by strict editorial guidelines. 

“The reporters who are on the ground for the BBC are in and of the places they’re reporting from,” Baird said. “They are not parachuting into a hot zone when news breaks, and that’s why they are able to bring us the kind of global breadth and scale that makes the BBC special.”

Following strict guidelines 

Putting the BBC’s editorial guidelines into action means everyone who works there is trained at length on the standards they’re to follow.

Some examples of that are gathering material using first-hand sources, checking facts and statistics, and identifying important caveats and limitations. 

“We validate the authenticity of documentary evidence and digital material,” Baird said. “We have to corroborate claims and allegations made by contributors and then weigh, interpret and contextualise claims including statistical claims.”

Another important guideline is what the BBC refers to as “due weight.”

“In U.S. media, we typically talk about impartiality as telling both sides of the story or all sides of a story. At the BBC, we pretty much reject moral relativism and when we discuss key issues, it’s more than a simple matter of balancing between two viewpoints. We have to take into account what we call due weight, meaning do the two viewpoints carry the same weight.”

An example she gave was when the BBC reports on climate change. The BBC acknowledges the science-backed data around climate change as truth: “We would report that there are climate change deniers, but we would never give climate change deniers equal time to climate science and news,” Baird said.

The launch of a new brand

While the BBC’s guidelines have long been a blueprint for its journalism, the work up until now has gone on primarily behind the scenes. With the launch of BBC Verify, the company is starting to lift the curtain on the tools, techniques, and technology they use to check and verify information. This helps the BBC publicly address the growing threat of disinformation and build trust with audiences through transparency.

BBC Verify is a brand. It’s a real location in the BBC newsroom, and it lets audiences in so they know not just what the BBC knows but how they know it.

“There are 60 forensic journalists in this unit as well as expert talent from across the BBC,” Baird said. 

Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC News, has explained it by saying: “This team is focused on fact checking, verifying video, countering disinformation, analysing data, and crucially explaining complex stories in the pursuit of truth.”

An example Baird gave was the BBC Verify team analysing a video that appears to show actor Elijah Wood asking the Ukrainian President to go to rehab for drug addiction. The team was able to prove the video was fake by explaining to the audience how they looked at it. They were able to see obvious jump cuts in the video, signalling significant editing and splicing together. They also searched for the video on other platforms and were unable to find it posted on any credible sites. In addition, they mentioned the misuse of the Ukrainian president’s first name.

“I think it’s a great example of how we are using technology and unpacking some of what you’re seeing with AI and deep fakes,” Baird said.

Another project under the BBC Verify brand is led by the BBC’s first disinformation and social media specialist, Marianna Spring. The project is called the “Undercover Voters Investigation.”

Looking to better understand and explain how misinformation spreads on the Internet, Spring creates social media accounts that represent different kinds of voters across the U.S. political spectrum using data from the PEW Research Center.

“This is a forensic exercise around what the algorithms are feeding users based on their characteristics,” Baird said. “For example, Marianna is monitoring the social media account for ‘popular right’ Britney, and Britney has been recommended pages promoting false claims that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged and has come across violent rhetoric about Trump’s opponents.”

The BBC believes that by following these profiles consistently over time, the information gathered will play a pivotal role in how they understand the way real U.S. voters are feeling about the upcoming presidential election.

“Marianna herself — through her job immersing herself in online misinformation and conspiracy theories — has been on the receiving end of more than 80% of the online abuse aimed at BBC journalists this year,” Baird said.

The BBC sees this as even more reason the work of journalists is so important as extreme viewpoints and disinformation continue to gain traction online.

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