From Syria to wider verification challenges

In our first Stage Talk of 2026, we were joined by Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins and Cornell University's Dr. Claire Wardle sharing their expertise on the formation of fact checking and verification strategies we see today. But how do we cope with the collapse of trust in media and academic institutions? Are corrections and AI fact checks enough? Listen in to find out what two seasoned open source verification experts think could be our next steps.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday January 29rd 2026. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

Legacy site of First Draft News: https://firstdraftnews.org/

Projecto Comprova: https://projetocomprova.com.br/

Eliots framework: https://demos.co.uk/research/verification-deliberation-accountability-a-new-framework-for-tackling-epistemic-collapse-and-renewing-democracy/

Eliot's article for Reuters Institute: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-protect-democracies-falsehoods-empowering-young-open-source-investigation-skills

FullFact: https://fullfact.org/

The video of Alex Pretti that faced claims of AI manipulation: https://bsky.app/profile/eliothiggins.bsky.social/post/3mdkcgmsvdk2y

Claire's previous work on Information Disorder: https://firstdraftnews.org/long-form-article/understanding-information-disorder/

Links shared by audience members relevant to the discussion: https://theconversation.com/when-critical-thinking-isnt-enough-to-beat-information-overload-we-need-to-learn-critical-ignoring-198549

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2018/05/08/media-literacy-everyones-favourite-solution-to-the-problems-of-regulation/

https://www.disarm.foundation/framework

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/adding-a-d-to-the-abc-disinformation-framework/

https://issues.org/misunderstanding-misinformation-wardle/