Hot on the heels of Facebook partnering with Africa Check to crack down on fake news, Google has also partnered with Africa Check to help journalists use data in reporting fact-based news.
The Google News Initiative has partnered with Africa Check to educate journalists, by offering its online tools for free. These tools allow journalists to back up statements with data provided by Google, or to use Google’s tools to represent data for readers.
“Journalists need to provide free information for readers to make choices,” says Mich Atagana, communications and public affairs head of Google SA. “We are offering Google Trends to help journalists show readers what is popular in which area, at which time, and what exactly is being searched.”
Gadget used Google Trends to compare the top five political parties to their respective prominent figures, to show how disconnected the searches are between parties and their figures. The most searched parties do not necessarily have the most searched leaders. The following graphs are interactive, run your cursor over or tap on the graph to see the data values at each point:
Click here to read about how to identify fake news.
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