Journalism.
OpenOrgins helps journalists and media organisations prove the validity and authenticity of their work. Here are a couple of editorial use cases for newsgathering and news dissemination.
Freelance Journalist
Mike is a freelance journalist working in a country where freedom of expression is suppressed and the media is controlled.
He has a reputation for covering previously untold stories and giving a voice to the voiceless by travelling to remote regions and recording, first-hand, the experiences of marginalised communities. Mike is known for producing well-sourced, accurate, and original journalism.
He then sends his stories to mainstream media outlets and news agencies in the hope that they will use his material in their output. He also disseminates some of his work via social media. But he faces two problems.
The Challenges
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Mainstream media and news agencies require verification. They need to know that the material hasn't been manipulated and that it is a true reflection of the situation on the ground.
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Once his newsgathering efforts have been shared on social media, there is a danger that the material could be downloaded by others and manipulated to distort the truth and paint a fake picture of the situation on the ground.
Mike needs a system for proving the validity and authenticity of his work and retaining that information so that it can be trusted - and remain trusted - once it is in the public domain.
The Solution
Photos and videos uploaded to OpenOrigins are given a proof stamp. This proof stamp serves as an authenticity verification. When the content is shared, a link to the original photo and provenance information will be attached. It ensures that the piece of content remains trusted in the public domain.
News Editor
Sara is an intake editor at a global broadcasting organisation. She and her team liaise with freelance journalists. Her newsgathering team commissions work from people such as Mike and accepts pitches from other journalists working in the field.
Sara's team also monitors social media as part of their newsgathering work as they try to spot stories that are being shared by the public or by citizen journalists around the world.
The Challenges
But, increasingly, Sara's team is faced with the problem of verification - even with material submitted by trusted freelance journalists such as Mike. A lot of her team's time is spent checking the validity of the information submitted.
Sara needs a system that helps her and her team check and verify the authenticity of material submitted and ingested by her news organisation. And she needs to know that validity is retained after the material has been published.
The Solution
Since all photos and videos uploaded to OpenOrigins are given a proof stamp, Sara and her team can rest assured that the content they gather through OpenOrigins is authentic. That will save them a lot of time in verifying the validity of the information submitted by freelance journalists and gathered on social media.
Want to learn more about how OpenOrigins can help your organisation build a provenance infrastructure? We'll be happy to help.