Summary
A comprehensive, practitioner-focused handbook for journalists investigating disinformation and media manipulation. Edited by Craig Silverman and developed by top reporters and academics, the handbook provides tools, techniques, and case studies for verifying information across social media, closed messaging apps, websites, and emerging technologies like deepfakes.
Key chapters and topics covered
Investigating Actors & Content:
- Analyzing social media accounts for inauthentic behavior and coordinated campaigns
- Tracing content origin and "patient zero" — finding sources of viral claims
- Identifying bots, cyborgs, and automated inauthentic activity
- Real-time verification during breaking news events
- Image verification and reverse-image searching
- Deepfakes and emerging synthetic media technologies
Investigating Platforms:
- Monitoring closed groups and private messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal)
- Website analysis and domain verification
- Social media advertising investigation
- Cross-platform tracking of actors and campaigns
- Network analysis and attribution of coordinated inauthentic behavior
Use cases
- Newsroom training for journalists new to digital verification
- Fact-checking operations seeking structured verification workflows
- Academic research on computational journalism and investigative methods
- NGOs and civil society monitoring election interference or coordinated disinformation campaigns
- Media organizations building verification teams
Notes
Third edition (2020), building on earlier editions of the Verification Handbook and the Verification Handbook for Investigative Reporting. Combines academic rigor with practical guidance, featuring case studies from investigations in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Brazil, and West Papua. Designed to be accessible to journalists without deep technical expertise while providing substantive methodological depth.