Committees

Journalists and factcheckers to discuss misinformation and general election

28 January 2020

The Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies will reopen its inquiry this week with evidence from a range of witnesses including James Mitchinson, Editor of the Yorkshire Post, Matthew d'Ancona, Editor of Tortoise who are focusing on 'slow news' and in depth analysis and Jessica Cecil, Director of the BBC Online Project as well as fact checking organisations.

Witnesses

Tuesday 28 January in Committee Room 2, Palace of Westminster

At approximately 10.30am

  • Mr Will Moy, Chief Executive, Full Fact
  • Mr Ed Humpherson, Director General of Regulation, Office for Statistics Regulation
  • Ms Jenni Sargent, Managing Director, First Draft
  • Mr Allan Leonard, Editor in Chief, FactCheck, NI

At approximately 11.30am

  • Ms Jessica Cecil, Director of the BBC Online Project, BBC
  • Mr Matthew d'Ancona, Editor and Partner, Tortoise
  • Mr James Mitchinson, Editor, Yorkshire Post

Possible areas for discussion

The Yorkshire Post become the subject of widespread attention during the recent general election when it ran a story on a young boy who was asleep on a hospital floor while awaiting treatment in an NHS Hospital where a bed was not available. The story became the subject of significant debate on social media when posts doubting the accuracy of the Yorkshire Post's story were widely shared.

The controversy around the story during the election campaign period was an example of the different standards of fact checking and accuracy between traditional and social media, an issue the Committee will explore in its inquiry. The inquiry will be the first Parliamentary examination of these issues since the general election.

Further information