Smart Fact-Checking: Tools, Techniques, and AI Methods for Journalists

Instructor: Mike Reilley, Senior Lecturer at University of Illinois Chicago and founder of JournalistsToolbox.ai

In a fast-changing media and AI-driven landscape, it is critical to empower community journalists to fight misinformation while building their skills in using digital investigation tools and techniques. This training will equip participants with techniques to verify content, authenticate sources, and conduct in-depth online research using both traditional and AI-powered methods.

This 90-minute session combines fact-checking exercises with advanced methods for finding and validating online information. It’s designed for journalists looking to sharpen their verification skills and enhance their digital literacy in an era of deepfakes, social media manipulation, and hidden online networks.

Participants will learn to:

• Use Google Fact-Check Explorer, reverse image search, and other tools to verify election-related claims
• Analyze doctored videos and audio using WatchFramebyFrame and Deepfake-o-meter
• Apply advanced search and geolocation techniques for digital investigations
• Examine disinformation spread across Discord, Reddit, Telegram, and VKontakte using Rolliapp.com

Register for the AI training

If you have any questions, contact ccm@journalism.cuny.edu.

Instructor

Mike Reilley is the author of two books, “Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven Approach to Learning Data Reporting” and “Journalist’s Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI”. Mike teaches data and digital journalism courses at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is also a digital tools trainer who has taught Google News Initiative tools to more than 12,500 journalists and educators in the past seven years. He also is the founder of Penny Press Digital LLC, a digital consulting and training company that works with media outlets such as USA Today. A former reporter and copy editor at the LA Times and a founding editor of ChicagoTribune.com, Mike served for 13 years as a full-time faculty member at Northwestern, Arizona State University and DePaul University. He holds journalism degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern University. Mike founded the research site The Journalist’s Toolbox AI.