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How to Spot a Fake Video

Seeing should not always lead to believing.

I keep running into people who tell me that you cannot trust mainstream media.

Then they watch a source like One America News Network that recently had to recant their previous coverage of alleged voter fraud in Georgia during the 2016 election.

The above was a misrepresentation of what was seen in a video.

Which brings me to fake videos, which are deliberate manipulations of video.

See this message below. I hope you are able to access the two links below to help you become a more informed consumer of the news.

"At The Washington Post, we take seriously our duty to clarify news and information in ways that illuminate the facts and discover the truth. Critical to this effort is our visual forensics team, who ensure that what you see — and share — is real.

This kind of verification is particularly important as we cover the war in Ukraine. This year, we are doubling our investment in visual forensics, and you’ll see that reflected in the recently published database of more than 200 Post Verified videos exposing the horrors of the war in Ukraine.

On the ground in Ukraine and here in our newsroom, our team worked night and day to verify video content, pinpoint locations and determine timing to separate genuine video from misinformation. The result is a stunningly comprehensive account of what is perhaps the world’s most documented war to date — told largely through cellphone video.

Across our coverage, from the streets of Minneapolis to the steps of the Capitol, we are committed to reporting the facts with all the tools available to us, and to empowering you with the tools and information to do your own research. The visual forensics team, together with The Post’s Fact Checker, have written two guides to help you evaluate the stories you encounter online.

How to spot a fake video »

The Fact Checker’s Guide to manipulated video

Seeing isn’t always believing. But verifying is."

Thank you for supporting our journalism.

Sally Buzbee

Executive Editor, The Washington Post
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.