Digital revolution does not equal a more informed public — French media expert

AMMAN — The digital revolution has led to the diversity of information in the media, but this does not mean that citizens are better informed than before, according to a French journalist and expert on digital media.

Yann Guegan, a former deputy editor-in-chief of rue89.com, a French independent news website, was speaking at the lecture “Media evolution — L’évolution du monde des medias [The evolution of the media world]”, held at the French Cultural Centre in Amman on Tuesday.

Rue89 website became one of the leading and “arguably” most well-known French media outlets.

According to Guegan, the fact that information is available almost everywhere does not guarantee its authenticity, so people, especially scholars and media workers, should be very careful about how to handle it.

Among “infobesity”, scams, false information, conspiracy theories and speculation, it is hard to find the right information in all this media frenzy, he stated, adding that to see through it, journalists should be the first to act as a filter. 

“It is their work to verify, cross-check, validate, choose, class and rank, cross-examine and analyse various sources and information,” the expert stressed.

Media and general public have never been in greater need of unbiased information, but sources of information have never been more unreliable, he underscored, noting a paradox that has prompted some media organisations to try and regain control over the verification and validation of information.

The war on disinformation has been declared, said Guegan, who is also the founder of Dans mon labo (In my lab), a French website to help journalists with digital projects on the web, mobile phones and tablets.

 While working for one media outlet, he and his team came up with a novel solution to web-based engagement with the public on comments pages and social media. 

The moderators of pages nominated certain users as “correctors” — users who have additional responsibilities and privileges, such as contacting authors of articles and editors, in order to prevent or correct mistakes,  Guegan explained.

In this way, users became actively engaged in the fact-checking process and development of the media organisation, and ceased to be passive recipients of information, he highlighted. 

Since 2016, Guegan has also been interested in the way fake stories circulate on the web and on social media. 

He tries to understand which sites relay fake news without checking for authenticity, as well as who corrected them.

Holding journalists and media workers to high standards actually encourages them to do their jobs in a more responsible manner, he concluded.