On the trail of truth

Kleinmachnow in the summer of 2023 - the lioness roams through the Brandenburg gem and promptly becomes a star in the social media. A scandal promptly ensued: the big cat turned out to be a vulgar wild boar; her fans throughout Germany were devastated. For all its entertainment value, the drama surrounding the lioness of Kleinmachnow raises questions that fundamentally affect everyday journalism: Have the media lied once again? Who can still be trusted in times of deep fakes and artificial intelligence? Can journalism be saved at all? The good news: Yes, journalism can still be saved. While disinformation and fake news are real problems, they also offer journalists the opportunity to prove the value of quality journalism. For example, by dissecting a news item down to the last detail and thus verifying whether a big cat is really roaming around Brandenburg. In this session, Stefan Voß, Head of Verification at dpa, will give an introduction to the craft. This does not necessarily require sophisticated technologies, but above all logic and intuition.