Notes to broadcasters
These questions are designed to help broadcasters conduct interviews with media and communication experts who can speak to issues like fake news, misinformation, and disinformation, as well as solutions like fact-checking. You might find such experts at a local media organization, or a community-based group that does training on media literacy, critical thinking, fact-checking, and other related issues. The questions are designed to help you create informative discussions about how to identify and address fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.
It’s important to note that fake news, misinformation, and disinformation are not new phenomena. They have been around forever. But, with the today’s globalized media and the internet, they can spread much further and more easily—and thus do more damage.
When planning your interview, it’s best to pick three to five of the numbered themes to discuss with your interviewee(s). Restricting the interview to this number of themes will help ensure that the interview is more focused, which will more useful for your audience and avoid overloading them with information. Ask some or all of the follow-up questions to explore the themes thoroughly and give your audience the information they need.
If you want to cover more details about this topic, arrange a series of interviews with the same guest or with others who can speak on these issues. And remember that good interviews are based on active listening and good follow-up questions. Use these questions as a guide to your discussion but be flexible enough to follow the discussion where it leads, and to add or remove follow up questions as required in any given interview.
Important myths and misinformation could come up during these discussions. Be sure to address and dispel these with your guest, as well as other myths that are prominent in your community.
Finally, the concepts that come up during your discussion might be technical or scientific. Always ask your interviewee(s) to explain such concepts in clear and simple terms that any listener can understand. If a guest uses a complicated or technical term, ask them to explain it—even if you understand, your listeners may not.
Script
1. Please explain what misinformation is.
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. Where might someone see misinformation? Might they see it, for example, on the internet, on social media, or on WhatsApp? Where else might they see or hear it?
a.ii. What does misinformation look or sound like? For example, does it come through images, videos, written articles, audio pieces, etc.?
a.ii.1. Please provide some examples our listeners might recognize.
2. What is disinformation?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation?
a.ii. Please give an example of disinformation.
a.iii. What are the most dangerous types of misinformation and disinformation in our community?
3. What is fake news? Is it different than misinformation and disinformation? If so, how?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. Where might someone see fake news? Might they see it, for example, on the internet, on social media, or on WhatsApp? Where else might they see or hear it?
a.ii. Is there fake news in traditional media like TV, radio, and newspapers—or is it only online?
a.iii. What does fake news look like? For example, does it come through images, videos, written articles, audio pieces, etc.?
a.iv. Is fake news easy to recognize? If so, how do you recognize it?
a.v. Please provide some examples of fake news.
a.vi. Is there a difference between fake news and errors in reporting? If so, what is the difference?
a.vii. Please give us any famous or recent examples of fake news that our listeners might recognize.
a.vii.1. What were the effects of this fake news?
4. What are some common sources of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. What are the popular platforms for the spread of fake news?
a.ii. Who can spread fake news?
5. What are the risks of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. Please provide some examples of how misinformation, disinformation, and fake news have caused harm in our community or country.
a.ii. Who is most vulnerable to misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a.iii. What are the specific situations where misinformation can thrive and increase?
6. Has there been a lot of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic, and about COVID-19 vaccines?
a. If so, why?
b. Are there other issues that seem to generate a lot of fake news and disinformation? Why?
c. Why is disinformation and fake news created?
c.i. What do people gain by creating and sharing false information?
7. Many fake news stories are designed to create “shock value.” What is “shock value” and how does it relate to misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. Please give some examples of information shared with “shock value” that our listeners would recognize.
a.ii. Is fake news created to provoke certain kinds of emotional reactions in the people seeing it? Why?
8. What does “critical thinking” mean in the context of media, and how can it be used to recognize misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. How can people think critically about what they read online, in social media, in the newspaper, see on TV or hear on radio?
a.ii. Are there tips and tricks that people can use to think critically about things they see in the media?
9. How can someone identify misinformation, disinformation, or fake news?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. Are there tools, including online tools, that people can use to identify misinformation or fake news?
a.ii. What does it mean to “check a source”?
a.iii. Why is it important that everyone be able to identify misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a.iv. What is fact-checking?
a.iv.1. What sorts of tools should people use to fact-check what they see on social media, hear on the radio, or read in a newspaper?
a.iv.2. What should someone do once they have identified misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
10. So you’ve shared fake news, what should you do now?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. Are there legal penalties for sharing or creating misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
a.ii. If someone sees an image, meme, or graphic in a WhatsApp group for example, and they don’t think it’s factual, what should they do?
11. What can listeners do to combat misinformation, disinformation, and fake news in their community?
a. Follow-up questions:
a.i. What community resources or partnerships can we use to combat misinformation, disinformation, and fake news?
Acknowledgements
Contributed by: Ted Phido, freelance writer, Lagos, Nigeria