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Managing Misinformation in a Humanitarian Context: Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology. Part I: Context, Part II: Case Study
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Internews (2019), 56 pp.

"Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology consists of four key functions: 1. A mechanism to determine and document which rumours are circulating; 2. An effective strategy to fact-check information and rumours; 3. A variety of accessible and inclusive mechanisms to share accurate responses to rumours; 4 ... more

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Anti-Rumour. Verschwörungserzählungen, Fake News und wie man sie erkennt. Der-Anti-Rumour Leitfaden

Stiftung Digitale Chancen; Challedu; Citizens in Power (2023), 62 pp.

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Rooted in Trust: The Humanitarian Bulletin. Zimbabwe, June, 2022

Internews (2022), 6 pp.

"Internews in Zimbabwe collected 276 rumors on-line and 36 offline in the communities of Masvingo, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Midlands. The most trending rumors include that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe for children (35%), COVID-19 vaccines cause death (31%), COVID-19 vacc ... more

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Verschwörungstheorien: Früher und heute

Stiftung Kloster Dalheim (ed.)

Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), Sonderausg. (2020), 301 pp.

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Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away
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Heidi Larson

New York: Oxford University Press (2020), xli, 157 pp.

"A clear-eyed, expert examination of the state of vaccine confidence globally -- and what it means for the future of life on earth. Considers the widening gulf between messages of medical authority and those on everyman platforms of our digital world, especially as it influences individual choice. C ... more

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Die Psychologie des Postfaktischen: Über Fake News, "Lügenpresse", Clickbait & Co.
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Markus Appel (ed.)

Berlin: Springer (2020), ix, 219 pp.

"In diesem Buch werden in 18 Kapiteln Phänomene der Kommunikation im digitalen Zeitalter vorgestellt und die psychologischen Hintergründe anhand von wissenschaftlichen Theorien und Analysen erörtert. Viele Menschen sind verunsichert durch eine Medienwelt, die unausgewogen erscheint (Fake News, L� ... more

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Global Rumour Bulletin

Internews (2020), 10 pp.

"For the last 6 months, the Internews' Rooted in Trust project has collected more than 5,238 rumours from seven countries: Afghanistan, Lebanon, Philippines, Colombia, Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan. We work in 12 local languages and collect data across seven major social media platforms a ... more

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Real-Time Rumor Tracking for COVID-19: System Design and Implementation Guide

Breakthrough Action; USAID (2020), 27 pp.

"This document is written for humanitarian or public health organizations as well as national governments seeking to document rumors in a systematic and dynamic fashion. First, the document provides an overview of the role of rumors in a public health or humanitarian emergency, followed by a summary ... more

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Influencers and Influencing for Better Accountability in the DRC: Sources and Circulation of Information in the DRC - the Case of North Kivu
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Fondation Hirondelle; Demos, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; ICREDES (2019), 39 pp.

"The information ecosystem in DRC is fragmented and fragile. It is characterised by a great number of media outlets, however their level of professionalism is low and their vulnerability to partisan capture is high. This fragility is replicated in the online space. The Congolese population rely heav ... ily on informal sources of information such as word of mouth, interpersonal communication with family and friends. The scarcity of reliable information open avenues for the rumours and misinformation to spread. This context presents serious challenges for the promotion of good governance and accountability that requires well informed citizens. To better address those challenges, it is necessary to understand the main sources and dynamics of information flows both offline and online, and through media and non-media channels. A consortium composed of Fondation Hirondelle (FH), Demos, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and the Institut Congolais de Recherche en Développement et Etudes Stratégiques (ICREDES) was created in order to provide a more holistic view of the Congolese information ecosystem and to identify opportunities for entry. Due to the limited time and resources of the study, and because of the pre-existing networks and capacities of the consortium in this region, its focus is on North Kivu. To identify the voices, networks and themes that dominated this information ecosystem in this region, three levels of analysis were chosen: 1. The sources and level of information of the local populations. This analysis was provided by HHI that implemented household surveys of large samples of populations in Eastern DRC; 2. The sources of information of local journalists. This analysis was provided by FH that surveyed a network of 18 local radios in North Kivu; 3. The network and content analysis of digital and social media provided by DEMOS [...] Findings: Radio is the primary media source of information for the population of Eastern DRC (78% of the sample listens to it occasionally and 43% daily [...] The main sources of information depend on the context and the nature of the information people are seeking [...] The results highlight the lack of reliability of information sources (46% of respondents expressed a moderate to high level of confidence in local radio, and 39% for national radio) ..." (Executive summary) more

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Propaganda & Persuasion
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Garth Jowett, Victoria O'Donnell

Los Angeles et al.: Sage, 7th ed. (2019), xv, 400 pp.

"Reflecting the remarkable changes in the world of propaganda due to the increasing use of social media, this updated Seventh Edition provides a systematic introduction to the increasingly complex world of propaganda. Viewing propaganda as a form of communication, the authors help you understand inf ... more

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Managing Misinformation in a Humanitarian Context: Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology. Part III: How to Guide
Key Guidance

Internews (2019), 61 pp.

"You will find information and advice on everything from how to source rumours and factcheck information, to how to share actionable and practical answers to address these rumours. Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology is designed to be flexible and responsive to local context – and you should be ... more

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Exposed: Living with Scandal, Rumour, and Gossip

Mia-Marie Hammarlin

Lund: Lund University Press (2019), 201 pp.

"This book illuminates the personal experience of being at the centre of a media scandal. The existential level of that experience is highlighted by means of the application of ethnological and phenomenological perspectives to extensive empirical material drawn from a Swedish context. The questions ... more

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Communicating in a Crisis: Risk Communication Guidelines for Public Officials

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2019), 46 pp.

"This guide focuses on the following areas: a brief orientation and perspective on the media for public officials, including discussion of how the media thinks and works, and on the public as the end-recipient of information; techniques for responding to and cooperating with the media in conveying i ... more

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Countering False Information on Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies

U.S. Department of State, Social Media Working Group for Emergency Services and Disaster Management (2018), 19 pp.

"Best practices for agencies to counter misinformation, rumors and false information are detailed and categorized in this white paper, and challenges and additional considerations are presented for review. This report illustrates methods of countering false information on social media with case stud ... more

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Information Needs of Syrian Refugees and Host Communities in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey

Sébastien Duhaut (dir.)

Altai Consulting; CFI (2017), 168 pp.

"This report presents the result of a quantitative survey carried out in March 2017 using a representative sample of 1104 individuals (Syrian refugees and host community members over 12 years old), weighted for location, gender and age, across the three main host countries for Syrian refugees (Jorda ... n, Lebanon and Turkey). Some results are presented aggregated on this whole population (with a ratio of 70% Syrian refugees / 30% of host communities), while others are presented in a segregated way (refugees compared to host communities), or by various other break-downs mentioned throughout the report. Finding 1: Both Syrian refugees and host communities are well equipped in terms of media and means of communication (92% have access to television, 97% to phones and 56% to internet), sometimes through ad hoc means (shared dishes, shared internet subscriptions, use of a relative’s phone, etc.). They are intensive users, spending about two and a half hours per day on television and the same on the internet. The more educated, richer segments follow various kinds of news, cross-check, are members of numerous Facebook communities, and spread information themselves. But even at the other end, among the poorer and the less educated, very few people are completely disconnected. Finding 2: Satellite television, whose use is almost universal, is a major entertainment tool in terms of time spent: families put cartoons for their children and watch movies, musical videos and series. It is also widely used for news, with a few pan-Arab channels dominating the landscape (Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Al Hadath), but also use of some host country channels (particularly Al Jadeed in Lebanon) and pro-revolution Syrian channels (particularly Orient). Internet is less pervasive, but still very significant for a large proportion of the population, who are connected on social media (over half on WhatsApp, over a third on Facebook) and use the network for private chat, entertainment and information, especially on the numerous existing Syrian community pages or information portals. On the contrary, radio usage is low and limited to particular circumstances (absence of electricity, in transportation, etc.): to a large extent, it has been replaced by television and/or internet. Finding 3: There is a lot of humanitarian information circulating, both on official channels (official SMS, outreach teams, direct visits to offices, national announcements, etc.) and unofficial channels (a burgeoning, ever-changing world of Facebook pages and groups with tips and announcements, of SMS or messages being re-forwarded and re-published, of rumours or facts spread by word of mouth). But this information is not coordinated in a systematic manner by actors, and people in need still lack accurate information on various issues. They are often forced to rely on unofficial sources, or do not trust fully the information they have. Moreover, in many cases the only way to obtain information is to go personally to the relevant institution or office, which is sometimes a barrier." (Executive summary and recommendations) more

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Controversial Ebola Vaccine Trials in Ghana: A Thematic Analysis of Critiques and Rebuttals in Digital News

Per Egil Kummervold, William S. Schulz, Elizabeth Smout, Luis Fernandez-Luque, Heidi J. Larson

BMC Public Health, volume 17, issue 642 (2017), 24 pp.

"A web-based system was developed to download and analyse news reports relevant to Ebola vaccine trials. This included monitoring major online newspapers in each country with planned clinical trials, including Ghana. All news articles were downloaded, selecting out those containing variants of the w ... more

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Rumour Has It: A Practice Guide to Working with Rumours

Jon Bugge

London: CDAC Network (2017), 44 pp.

"The guide is designed to help you develop a way of working with rumours. As with all humanitarian action, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, the guide aims to build your knowledge and understanding of rumours, and suggests key steps and considerations. A range of options and tools is ... more

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Open Mic Nepal: Tracking Rumors in Post-Earthquake Nepal

Internews (2016), 13 pp.

"In July 2015, Internews launched Open Mic Nepal, a project designed to track and debunk rumors in the earthquake-afected communities. Based on previous pilots of this approach in Gaza and Liberia, the project set out to assess and address information needs by using minimally structured qualitative ... more

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Community Information Flows to Reduce Inter-Communal Violence in Burma

Emily Speers Mears et al.

Search for Common Ground (2015), 71 pp.

"The research presented in this report aims to contribute towards a better understanding of the way in which rumors, hate speech, and manipulated information contribute to inter-communal conflict and outbreaks of inter-communal violence in Myanmar. It focuses on Muslim-Buddhist inter-communal confli ... ct in one urban and one peri-urban area: Lashio, the largest town in Shan state, and Amarapura, a former capital on the outskirts of Mandalay [...] People in Lashio and Amarapura draw upon a wide range of sources for information and news. They mainly obtain information by word of mouth from friends, colleagues, people who travel for their work, and figures of authority. They share this information by phone and online messaging services, and in markets, teashops and pagodas, as well as other places where people gather such as bus stations. Certain individuals in the community are regarded as trustworthy sources of information including religious leaders, teachers, bosses, government officials, and community leaders. Many people also have access to news applications on Facebook, and/or read journals and newspapers, listen to the radio, and watch TV in order to find out about news that affects them. People report a high level of skepticism about the news that they hear, particularly from sources like Facebook and government newspapers. They analyze not only the information itself but also the source of that information, and check whether it is accurate with people who live in the affected area, or by going to see for themselves. Family members or trusted community members are also consulted to verify or analyze news and information. Respondents also claim to try to verify information by checking different news sources. The more they can cross-reference, the more confident they are that the information is accurate. [...] The causes of inter-religious inter-communal conflict in Myanmar are not well understood. There is a long history of Muslim settlement in Myanmar, and of peaceful relations between Muslims and Buddhists. This changed with the arrival of the British, whose colonial policies brought an influx of Indians, including Muslims, to Myanmar. Specifically anti-Muslim (rather than anti-Indian) tensions first came to a head in 1938; however an inquiry into the anti-Muslim riots of that time found that while the riots had religious anti-Muslim undertones, the real causes were political, economic and social. There have been irregular outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence in subsequent decades, but unfortunately few detailed investigations or analyses of their causes, due to the difficulty of conducting research under the socialist and military governments, and to the sensitivity of the issue. This difficulty persists to the present. [...] Both Muslims and Buddhists are worried about religious violence, and the impact that it might have on the economy. However, most people in Lashio are probably more immediately worried about the fighting between the Tatmadaw and the ethnic armed groups that is taking place outside of Lashio, which has negative effect on the economy, on their livelihoods, and on their feelings of security, due to the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have sought safety in Lashio. Ethnic groups in Lashio are concerned that the religious conflict will also have an impact on ethnic relations, due to the different religions amongst the ethnic groups. In Lashio, there is also a high level of anti-Chinese sentiment on the part of the Bamar and other ethnic groups. [...] The large amount of rumors about Muslims and about Muslim-Buddhist conflict that we heard in Lashio and Amarapura suggest that people are concerned about this conflict. Negative rumors contribute to the background levels of hatred and distrust of Muslims and serve to manifest tensions between the two communities. This kind of background hatred and distrust may not in itself result in violence. But it means that Buddhists and Muslims in these areas do not mix, and fosters an environment of suspicion and hostility, creating an enabling environment for violence. However, on their own, rumors are not sufficient to trigger violence. For every example of a situation where (true or false) rumors have triggered violence, there is an example where rumors have not triggered violence. Other factors – harder to identify – contribute to outbreaks of violence, and to the underlying conflict. It is essential that these factors be understood if the root causes of inter-communal conflict are to be addressed. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS With this analysis in mind, the following recommendations are provided: recognize the important role that word-of-mouth communication plays in the ways that rumors are spread; recognize and understand the nuances in each local context, in order to develop a deeper understanding of why people feel insecure, as well as to identify root causes of the conflict; mitigate the background levels of anti-Muslim hate speech, by engaging with the genuine Buddhist concerns that are expressed through hate speech; and strengthen community resilience to potential ‘trigger’ rumors – and recognize and strengthen existing efforts to combat these rumors." (Executive summary, page 3-7) more

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Community Information Flows to Reduce Inter-Comunal Violence in Burma

Emily Speers Mears

Search for Common Ground (2015), 71 pp.

Managing Misinformation in a Humanitarian Context: Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology. Part I: Context, Part II: Case Study Top Insights

Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away Top Insights

Die Psychologie des Postfaktischen: Über Fake News, "Lügenpresse", Clickbait & Co. Top Insights

Influencers and Influencing for Better Accountability in the DRC: Sources and Circulation of Information in the DRC - the Case of North Kivu Top Insights

Propaganda & Persuasion Top Insights

Managing Misinformation in a Humanitarian Context: Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology. Part III: How to Guide Key Guidance

Managing Misinformation in a Humanitarian Context: Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology. Part I: Context, Part II: Case Study
Top Insights

Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away
Top Insights

Die Psychologie des Postfaktischen: Über Fake News, "Lügenpresse", Clickbait & Co.
Top Insights

Influencers and Influencing for Better Accountability in the DRC: Sources and Circulation of Information in the DRC - the Case of North Kivu
Top Insights

Propaganda & Persuasion
Top Insights

Managing Misinformation in a Humanitarian Context: Internews Rumour Tracking Methodology. Part III: How to Guide
Key Guidance