The Trusted Web Podcast

AI and Search: Exploring the Impact with Joost de Valk, Founder of Yoast SEO & Investor

May 03, 2023 08:49 - 45 minutes - 63 MB

Joost de Valk is an entrepreneur and application software developer from the Netherlands who is best known for Yoast SEO. Joost started out as a consultant and blogger in 2004 before developing Yoast, one of the most successful plug-ins for WordPress. Tune in to this episode as we discuss the current landscape of search and AI, and the implications for both. Google and Bing have implemented new AI chatbots to create a more conversational technology for searches, but this also raise...

Digital Content Provenance with Andy Parsons, Senior Director of Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe

January 11, 2023 16:00 - 57 minutes - 79 MB

My guest and I share a very deep passion for a trustworthy internet, and his name is Andy Parsons. Over the last few decades, Andy has been a CTO of over a dozen companies, a founder of several companies and a start-up mentor. Andy is currently a Senior Director at Adobe, overseeing its Content Authenticity Initiative. In 2019, Adobe launched this Content Authenticity Initiative with launching partners Twitter and NY Times., where the idea was to establish what they call Digital C...

Timestamps, Society, and Mass Adoption of a Trusted Web with Scott Stornetta, Blockchain Co-inventor

December 28, 2022 13:09 - 1 hour - 92.8 MB

Scott Stornetta is a Grandfather, Teacher, Investor and scientific researcher – and an invention he did 30 years ago totally revolutionizes the world of tech today. In 1991, he and Stuart Haber, published the whitepaper "How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document”. This paper, in fact, could be described as the invention of blockchain. In 1992 this paper won the Discover Award for Computer Software; it’s considered to be one of the most important papers in the development of cryptocurrenc...

Managing Day-to-day Verifications with Karen Mahabir, Head of Fact Checking at The Associated Press

December 08, 2021 12:00 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MB

Karen Mahabir is the AP’s Fact Check and Misinformation Editor, based in New York City. She has worked as a reporter, editor and producer for the AP in its Mexico City, Washington and New York offices. Mahabir also served as Managing Editor of News for The Huffington Post for two years and has spent many years working as a reporter and columnist at several newspapers in New York City and New Jersey. In this episode, we discuss what a Misinformation Editor does, live fact-checking, ...

Social Media and Trust with Amy Mitchell, Director, Journalism Research, Pew Research Center

November 24, 2021 12:00 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MB

Amy Mitchell is director of journalism research at Pew Research Center. She is responsible for the Center’s research related to news and information, including how the public accesses, engages with and creates news, what news organizations are providing and how technology is changing all of these elements. Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. In this conversation we explore the impact of peo...

Building a Public Consensus on Truth with Matt Carmichael, VP of Editorial and Content Strategy for Ipsos, North America

November 10, 2021 12:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MB

Matt Carmichael is the vice president of editorial and content strategy for Ipsos in North America where he edits the award-winning magazine, What the Future. In addition, he is an author and keynote speaker who reports on trends, futurism, demographics and their impacts on everything from marketing, to product development to urban planning and transit. Matt shares on the show some powerful insights from his latest market research. We also talk about confirmation bias, synthetic me...

Optimizing Content for Audience Trust with Helen Havlak, VP, The Verge

October 27, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MB

Helen Havlak, Vice President of The Verge, shares how the organization has built trust through different forms of content over the years. The Verge is an ambitious multimedia effort founded in 2011 to examine how technology will change life in the future for a massive mainstream audience. The Verge reaches 55MM+ US readers and millions of subscribers across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and email. Helen oversees strategy, operations, growth, product, editorial planning, ana...

Can Technology Combat Fake News? With Henry Pickavet, Editorial Director at TechCrunch

October 13, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MB

Henry Pickavet is the editorial director of TechCrunch, which he joined nine years ago as a copy editor. Prior to joining TechCrunch, Henry had a hand in a number of online and print publications, including InternetNews.com as chief copy editor and Government Technology Magazine as managing editor. Henry joins the show to explore what makes a trusted online brand. Tune in to hear what’s changed across the media landscape over the past decade. We also discuss the future of content d...

The Trust Barometer with Tonia Ries, Executive Director of Intellectual Property for the Edelman Trust Institute

September 29, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MB

Tonia Ries has more than 30 years of experience in marketing, research, strategy and media. She is Executive Director of Intellectual Property for the Edelman Trust Institute, Edelman’s center for the study of trust and a learning laboratory for trust building between companies, institutions, brands and people. Her role includes stewardship of the Edelman Trust Barometer, the largest global survey and foremost authority on trust in institutions and brands. It was great having Tonia...

Building Public Trust with Transparency with Scott Kraft, Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times

August 11, 2021 11:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MB

As managing editor, Scott Kraft oversees the Los Angeles Times newsroom, including Column One, enterprise, investigations and Sports. During more than three decades at The Times, Kraft has been a national and foreign correspondent as well as national editor and Deputy Managing Editor/News. He has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing, and wrote for the Associated Press before joining the Times. I really enjoyed learning more about how the LA Times have been handling ac...

Building Trust With The Most Innovative Business Leaders with Eric Schurenberg, CEO at Mansueto Ventures

July 28, 2021 11:00 - 19 minutes - 17.5 MB

Anyone with an internet connection can be a publisher, so what does it take for business journalism to build trust with their readers? I’m excited to speak with Eric Schurenberg, CEO at Mansueto Ventures, to learn what they are doing. Founded in 2005, the publishing company is dedicated to serving business leaders. They publish the influential publications Inc. and Fast Company. Eric Schurenberg has been the CEO of Mansueto Ventures since 2018. Prior to that, Eric was the founding...

Trust and Editing with Abhimanyu Ghoshal, Managing Editor, TNW

July 21, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MB

The consumption and distribution of media has changed drastically over the past decade. Calling in from Bangalore, The Next Web’s Managing Editor Abhimanyu Ghoshal joins the show to reflect on what the major shifts have been. TNW is a global digital brand that manages several initiatives focused on international technology news, business, and culture to inform, inspire and connect people who love tech. We explore niche-based content, empowering readers to debunk misinformation, wha...

Corrections in The Era of Fake News with Mark Schoofs, Editor in Chief, BuzzFeed News

July 07, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MB

BuzzFeed is the leading independent digital media and tech company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience. Mark Schoofs joins the show to share about his role as Editor in Chief at BuzzFeed News, and what the state of media and journalism looks like today. Over the course of his 30 year career, Mark has earned a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on AIDS in Africa at The Village Voice, shared in another Pulitzer Prize at The Wall Street Journal for reporting on th...

Disrupting Politics with Non-Partisan Journalism with Matt Kaminski, Editor in Chief, POLITICO

June 30, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MB

As POLITICO’s Editor-in-Chief, Matt Kaminski oversees all editorial operations of the publication. Starting as a freelancer from Eastern Europe before his senior year in college, Matt has reported on international affairs, politics and business on and off for the past quarter century. He joined POLITICO in late 2014 to become the founding editor of the European edition, which launched in April 2015. He moved to Washington in the fall of 2018 to help lead the publication’s global e...

The Power of Progressive Journalism with Katherine Bell, Editor in Chief, Quartz

June 16, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

Katherine Bell is Editor-In-Chief at Quartz. She previously served as editor-in-chief of Barron’s magazine, from 2017 until earlier in 2019. Before that, she worked at Harvard Business Review for a decade and was the editor of HBR.org. In both roles, she led the digital transformation of iconic print publications. Tune into this episode as we discuss how journalism has changed over the last year – and why more newsrooms need to be more progressive with their business models. We dis...

A Vision For Journalism with Christophe Deloire, General Secretary, Reporters Without Borders

May 26, 2021 11:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MB

Christophe Deloire’s career trajectory is impressive. He ran one of the leading French journalism schools, the CFJ, from 2008 to 2012, and was an investigative reporter for the politics and society sections of the French news magazine Le Point from 1998 to 2007. He has also worked for the TV channels ARTE and TF1, made documentary films, edited several authors and written several bestsellers. Christophe is currently the General Secretary and Executive Director of Reporters Without B...

Regulations for Misinformation with Fil Menczer, Director, the Observatory on Social Media

May 19, 2021 11:00 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MB

Fil is a Professor of Informatics and Computer Science, and the former director at the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research – a research unit of the Indiana University School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. He joins the show to explore what he has learnt from accessing platform data, from his current role as Director of The Observatory on Social Media. Things are changing fast so in this interview I take stock with Fil to review the impact of regulation. Thro...

Organizing the Fight Against Misinformation with Ferdi Özsoy, Program Manager, The Poynter Institute

May 12, 2021 11:00 - 32 minutes - 29.5 MB

‘Fake news’ has multiple definitions, which can be a problem. Ferdi Özsoy helps to highlight the main types of misinformation, and how individuals can be best equipped with consuming online content. As the Program Manager at the Poynter Institute, Ferdi joins the show today to distill the core principles that drive the success of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) – a unit of the Poynter Institute dedicated to bringing together fact-checkers worldwide. The Poynter Insti...

Correcting Social Media with Dr. Leticia Bode, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

May 05, 2021 11:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MB

Today’s guest extensively researches about the focus on exposure to and correction of misinformation on social media. Dr. Leticia Bode is an Associate Professor in the Communication, Culture, and Technology master’s program at Georgetown University. She joins me on the show to explore the problems with measuring fake news, and the current state of misinformation on social media and how we can correct it. Leticia’s work lies at the intersection of communication, technology, and pol...

Lessons from Philosophy with Justin McBrayer, Author of ‘Beyond Fake News’

April 28, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MB

As a Philosopher by trade, Justin McBrayer is not afraid to ask the big questions. I bring Justin on the show to learn more about his research and his latest book ‘Beyond Fake News: Finding the TRUTH in a world of misinformation’. Justin is also a teacher, speaker and writer. Much of his work focuses on helping ordinary individuals and political bodies to think consistently and carefully about the problems they encounter, the values they embrace, and the evidence they've gathered. ...

An Evolving Internet with David Mikkelson, CEO and Co-founder, Snopes

April 21, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MB

A lot has happened since 1994, when David Mikkelson founded the fact-checking website Snopes, formerly known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages. It was great speaking with David to learn more about how the sharing of questionable content has evolved into something very sophisticated today. Snopes started with investigating urban legends, hoaxes, and folklore. Founder David Mikkelson, later joined by his wife, was publishing online before most people were connected to the internet...

Disinformation Across Cultures with Costanza Sciubba Caniglia, Subject-Matter Expert at Wikimedia

April 14, 2021 11:00 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MB

Today’s guest comes with a really broad perspective. Costanza Sciubba Caniglia is currently a subject-matter expert at Wikimedia, and is a journalist and researcher in political analysis and communications for government and international organizations. I bring Constanza on the show to learn more about the cultural differences with disinformation. Constanza is Director of Communications for data.org, a platform for partnerships to build the field of data science for social impact. ...

The Newsletter as the Ultimate News Format with Arjun Moorthy, Co-Founder and CEO of The Factual

April 07, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MB

Ever find you can’t keep up with the news? In today’s world of 24/7 information – and misinformation – Arjun Moorthy, co-founder of The Factual, came up with a solution to deliver unbiased news and trending topics right to your inbox. I catch up with Arjun to find out how they are solving the problem of misinformation through this format. Arjun has always been passionate about news from when he was a paperboy in middle school through becoming editor in chief of The Stanford Reporte...

Lessons from the Pro-Truth Movement with Tim Ward, Author

March 31, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MB

Today’s guest is a real expert when it comes to communications. Tim Ward advises, trains and coaches environmental and development organisations to use effective communications to achieve their goals. In this interview we explore what we can learn from the Pro-Truth Pledge – an initiative that promotes truth seeking and rational thinking, particularly in politics. Tim has teamed up with neuroscientist Dr. Gleb Tsipursky to help citizens learn to protect themselves from lies, and em...

Building a Strong Media Ecosystem with Dan Gillmor, Co-founder of News Co/Lab

March 24, 2021 12:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MB

Dan Gillmor is an internationally recognized leader in new media and digital media literacy. He's the author of Mediactive, which explores media literacy in the digital age from a journalist’s perspective. He launched The News Co/Lab in 2017, where their mission is to help ensure an informed citizenry – a fundamental building block of democracy. I really enjoyed this thoughtful conversation as we explored the role of journalists within communities, the key challenges with moderatio...

Nutritional Information for Content with Richard Zack, CEO of Our.News

March 17, 2021 12:00 - 27 minutes - 25.6 MB

There’s no doubt that the state of fake news today is strong, and today’s guest Richard Zack, CEO & CTO of Our.News, shares how “the Internet is a super spreader event for fake news”. I found today’s conversation empowering as we discussed how the solution to this issue will come from working together. Our.News is on a mission to fight misinformation with interactive Nutrition Labels for news content. Attached to all news and content online, the labels make it easier for anyone to ...

Blockchain in the Newsroom with Dwayne Desaulniers, Director of Corporate News, Blockchain & Data Licensing at Associated Press

March 16, 2021 12:00 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MB

It’s been a remarkable 15 years for the news industry. Today’s guest, Dwayne Desaulniers from Associated Press, joins the show to run through their amazing use case with blockchain – calling the election on blockchain. The timing couldn’t be any better with the 2020 US elections. Dwayne started his career in journalism. His fascination with the intersection of news and technology, and how they work together, has led him to his current role as Director of Corporate News, Blockchain...

“Iffy” Sites with Paul Resnick, Professor at the School of Information, University of Michigan

March 10, 2021 12:00 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MB

Today’s guest is an expert in identifying real vs fake content that’s circulating across Facebook and Twitter – on a daily basis. Paul is the director of the Center for Social Media Responsibility, University of Michigan, and Paul and his team have developed a way to measure the progress of media platforms at meeting their public responsibilities. They use the term “Iffy” to describe sites that frequently publish misinformation. It is a light-hearted way to acknowledge that their ...

Misinformation Cycles with Alan Duke, Co-founder, Lead Stories

March 03, 2021 12:00 - 46 minutes - 107 MB

Alan Duke has had a fascinating career trajectory to date. As a US army veteran, followed by 26 years with CNN, he then co-founded Lead Stories, an innovative fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. The mission of Lead Stories is to help journalists, marketers and others identify and understand what is happening on social platforms with shared content in real time. It’s also a 3rd-party fact-checker for Facebook, usi...

Misinformation vs Disinformation with Pamposh Raina, Independent Journalist

February 24, 2021 12:00 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MB

Based in New Delhi, Pamposh Raina is an independent journalist. Her recent work has focussed on analysing misinformation and disinformation on social media and closed messaging apps in India. She led a research project commissioned by WhatsApp that analysed the misinformation trends natively on the messaging app during the 2019 Indian parliamentary election. For full show notes visit https://thetrustedweb.org/podcast/. Pamposh has written for international publications, including F...

Context is King with Ed Bice, CEO at Meedan

February 17, 2021 12:00 - 30 minutes - 70.7 MB

Online Anonymity is to be cherished according to Ed Bice, CEO of Meedan, a global technology not-for-profit that builds software and programmatic initiatives to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information online and off. In the same breath, however, Ed also calls for a fresh look at how rapidly fake news and damaging disinformation can spread as a result of articles and news pieces not being fact checked and verified. How can we as online users strike t...

Creating News Literacy with Alan Miller, CEO of the News Literacy Project

February 10, 2021 12:00 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MB

Alan is the founder and CEO of the News Literacy Project. Established in 2008, this educational nonprofit helped launch the category of news literacy. Following his three-decade journalism career, Alan has also received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize among a dozen other national and state reporting honors. The News Literacy Project provides educators with resources and tools to teach teenagers how to discern fact from fiction in the digital age. More than 19,000 educators in all 50 stat...

Information Silos with Nolan Higdon, Author of ‘The Anatomy of Fake News’

February 03, 2021 12:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

For many people Fake News started to be associated with primarily right-wing, Russian issues. This is where today’s guest, Nolan Higdon, steps in. In order to better understand Fake News, we need to understand its history. Nolan’s book ‘The Anatomy of Fake News’ provides a very comprehensive understanding of this. He believes that although we can’t ever get rid of Fake News, the solution is to be better informed. Nolan Higdon is an author and university lecturer of history and medi...

Combatting Information Warfare with Molly McKew, Lead Writer at Great Power

January 27, 2021 16:00 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MB

“The Internet can be an overwhelming place”, as today’s guest Molly McKew simply highlights. Molly has spent years working in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, including as an advisor to the Georgian President and National Security Council and the former Moldovan prime minister, and as the strategic director of a project to strengthen independent Russian language news and media in the Baltic states. With her expertise in understanding information warfare, I had to br...

Solving Misinformation through Journalism with Steven Brill, Co-founder and Co-CEO, NewsGuard

January 27, 2021 12:00 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MB

Misinformation is not new, but the internet has helped scale its reach now more than ever. In today’s episode I’m joined by journalist Steven Brill, who is also the Co-founder and Co-CEO, NewsGuard, Inc, a tool that provides detailed trust ratings for 6,000+ news websites. I’m excited to be joined by Steve as he’s a true expert when it comes to hoax sites and knowing what platforms like Facebook need to do to be held accountable. Join our discussion as we discuss transparency, the ...

The Trusted Web Manifesto

December 21, 2020 21:12 - 15 minutes - 14 MB

What if you could simply trust all information on the internet? I’m on the mission to build a Trusted Web for all of us on planet earth. Because to save the world, we need to fix the internet. With this special thing called blockchain timestamps; all content you consume will be transparent and accountable. Welcome to the new default on the internet. Thank you for being part of this journey and let’s build the Trusted Web together.