The success of the “Fake Newsstand” installation shows that news media can use design principles to fight online disinformation and educate the public.
The Columbia Journalism Review found a clever way to warn against the click-baiting pseudo-journalism that clog up social media newsfeeds. Created by the New York creative agency TBWA\Chiat/Day, the “Fake Newsstand” PSA stocked a real Manhattan newsstand with fake news for a day. Impressively convincing parodies of well-known publications — “The Informationalist,” and “National Trekker”, instead of The Economist and National Geographic — featured outlandish headlines ripped straight from actual viral fake news stories, fooling more than a few passers-by. Inside, these magazines and newspapers explained how to determine whether a story on the internet is reliable journalism or “fake news”. The real story of the fake newsstand was quickly picked up by media outlets around the world, eventually reaching over 2 billion people.
Real journalism today has to compete against attention-hijacking viral content while adhering to rigorous standards of accurate, truthful reporting. Expensive PSAs won’t fix the problem. But the Fake Newsstand does point to three possible design-based strategies to fight online misinformation:
Invest in strong branding. Credible news sources should have branding that is consistent, easily-identifiable, and relatively difficult to replicate in order to distinguish themselves from malevolent imitators. Art directors for news organizations should similarly consider visual signals of distinction, thoroughness, and quality.
Build transparency and education into platform design. Transparency and clarity create credibility. Many journalists now weave explanations of the reporting process into their individual stories. Art directors can help by dedicating a section of their websites to the publication’s reporting and fact-checking methods. This information should be clear and easy to find.
Create a quality-certification system. In the U.S., we trust that the packaged food that we buy is safe to eat because the labels tell us where they come from, what’s in them, and that they have passed FDA inspection. News organizations can follow this model and create reporting “nutrition facts” with consistent design components that tell readers where their information comes from. This exists to a degree with bylines, but a broadly-adopted design and uniform set of relevant information could help consumers feel more confident about the quality of the information they are getting and make comparison between news sources easier. An external nonpartisan industry quality-control organization could also award credibility certifications, similar to organic and free-trade marks.
Online disinformation is a serious problem that needs to be addressed comprehensively — through law and policy, market incentives, advocacy, technological innovations, and public education. While design alone can’t eradicate fake news, it can be a powerful tool to promote high-quality investigative journalism and help readers discern between stories that are informative and those that are manipulative.