MediaScanner (Round 3)
Summary
The project is a collaboration among fields that are usually regarded as incompatible, especially in regards to a greater good: investigative work, social sciences, and digital activism. The focus is the investigative method SCAN, developed for determining credibility of statements. This framework will be updated and applied to the dialogues of the Slovenian evening news broadcast Odmevi, which features conversations with public figures, thus giving the public an insight into the credibility of opinion makers. The goal is to eventually, in partnership with software experts, establish an automated process and in the long-term to adapt the method for general use.
The solution
The project will attempt to evaluate and scrutinize the credibility of statements asserted by opinion makers, who get the spotlight on the Slovenian prime-time news program Odmevi, which is presented as a reliable source of factual information. Our goal is to determine whether their guests, Slovenian public figures, uphold a standard of trustworthiness in their interviews. This will be achieved by applying a method of analysis (SCAN), which recognizes linguistic inconsistencies and thereby determines probable deception in statements. Combined with open-source software, we will offer journalists and the public a tool to go behind the scenes of public discourse.