Why newsrooms should train their communities in verification, news literacy, and eyewitness media

[Commentary] If newsrooms want to help stem the spread of misinformation online and get access to better eyewitness media they should embrace community engagement. Bringing communities into the news process is a powerful way to spread journalistic values, train residents on reporting processes and foster user generated content that is more useful for newsrooms. Newsrooms are well positioned to become participatory journalism laboratories, helping more people navigate, verify and create powerful stories online and via social media.

On The Media’s Breaking News Handbook is just one example of how newsrooms can empower their communities to better assess accuracy and validity of information during breaking news. It is not enough to simply report accurately, today we need newsrooms to also help debunk misinformation, especially during breaking news. And we should enlist our communities in that effort. When it comes to breaking news -- and the future of journalism more generally -- we are all in this together. In crisis moments, when the facts are a matter of life and death, we should be glad to have more boots on the ground, and we should lead by example and when engage our communities to help us shine a spotlight on the truth.

[Josh Stearns is Director of Journalism & Sustainability at the Geraldine R Dodge Foundation]