GMA's Digital Video Lab wins Google News Initiative challenge to fight misinformation

GMA's Digital Video Lab has won the latest round of the Google News Initiative (GNI) Asia Pacific Innovation Challenge for a comprehensive new project that aims to combat online misinformation.

Google will provide support of $125,000 for "InoculatED," a new initiative to create digital tools and news products aimed to protect Filipino internet users from fake news.

GMA's Digital Video Lab head Bernice Sibucao and Digital Video Specialist Lala Lacsina developed the winning project, under the supervision of Jaemark Tordecilla, GMA Network Sr. Assistant Vice President and head of online news.

Understanding that pre-bunking requires early detection and speedy counterattacks, "InoculatED" aims to solve the lack of workforce and resources to make this happen by exploring new technologies, particularly AI.

"We hope to harness the power of technologies like AI to increase our surveillance capabilities and the production of pre-bunking stories. We will take advantage of the reach of GMA Network, including our audience on traditional media and our millions of followers on emerging digital platforms, to make this a comprehensive effort," Tordecilla said.

Under the project, GMA hopes to develop news products that would "inoculate" audiences by making them more resistant to misinformation, in the same way that vaccines protect and immunize the population from illnesses.

According to Sibucao, InoculatED aims "to inoculate the public against misinformation so they can develop a resistance against the virality of fake news."

"As with medicine, we aim to prevent the disease from occurring before it spreads," Sibucao said.

The effort hopes to complement other existing efforts, including debunking and fact-checking, in fighting the spread of fake news.

InoculatED will be a collaborative effort among GMA's Digital teams, including GMA News Online, and the award-winning social media teams of GMA News and GMA Public Affairs — the same digital teams behind the Eleksyon 2022 campaign "Dapat Totoo" that won "Best in Audience Engagement" at the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022.

GMA's Digital Video Lab will also work closely with GMA Integrated News, GMA Public Affairs, GMA New Media, and other external collaborators to amplify the project's impact.

The Digital Video Lab explores new technologies, such as cloud-based production and AI-powered editing tools, along with unique storytelling formats like interactive graphics and animation to foster innovation in news and storytelling. It has developed and produced several original digital programs, including GMA News Feed, a hit series featuring bite-sized mobile news; Stand For Truth, a special reports series featuring millennial and Gen Z reporters; Need to Know, an explanatory journalism series featuring the novel use of animation and information graphics; The Howie Severino Podcast; and The Mangahas Interviews, among others.

Its programs have been showcased at international events, including the Video Business Accelerator Program of the Facebook Journalism Project, the International Center for Journalists, and the Korean Press Foundation Journalism Conference, among other forums. It has received Facebook's Accelerator Grant twice.

Established in 2018, the Google News Initiative Challenges have funded over 200 projects of news organizations from 47 countries "that pioneer new thinking in online journalism, develop new paths to sustainability and better understand their communities."

GMA Network previously won the Google News Initiative Challenge for "Stand for Truth." —JCB, GMA Integrated News