Above, Storyful’s David Clinch on how his organization works to verify - and sometimes debunk - amateur photos and videos emerging from Iraq.
Here's the transcript:
FULL STORYSTELTER: You have surely heard the old maxim that "in the fog of war, the first casualty is the truth." You've heard it because it tends to be true. It's very hard to know what's really happening in Iraq right now. Of course, it's a country that will always be associated in our minds with bad intelligence.
Sometimes reporters and TV producers have to rely on primary sources - photos and videos from people on the ever-shifting front lines. So, the vetting process for this material is critical. Many people here at CNN do it every day. We have Arabic speakers who watch video, translate them, cross-reference them, and sometimes debunk them. In fact, a message went out to the whole newsroom here on Friday, reminding everybody to steer clear of misinformation and mislabeled photos.
For help with this, lots of other news organizations depend on a fascinating start up called Storyful. It calls itself a social media news agency. Here's a sign how important this work is becoming: last year, Rupert Murdoch acquired Storyful for $25 million.
They have been busy there, debunking insurgent propaganda from Iraq, and I want you to hear how. So let me bring in David Clinch, executive editor of Storyful. He was previously a senior CNN international auditor here at CNN. David, thanks for joining me.
DAVID CLINCH, STORYFUL: Nice to be here, Brian. Thank you.
STELTER: Let me put two photos on screen that are from Twitter this week. Both of these are Blackhawk helicopters and the caption you can see on screen, it says, "Al Qaeda militants capture U.S. Blackhawk helicopters in Iraq." Are these images real? FULL POST
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