E01¶


Research	R0050 — Journalism Disciplines
Run	2026-03-31-02
Query	Q003
Source	SRC02
Evidence	SRC02-E01
Type	Reported

First Draft trained 37+ newsrooms using the framework as vocabulary and conceptual lens

URL: https://firstdraftnews.org/

Extract¶

First Draft's key activities using the taxonomy: - Crosscheck project (2017): 37 French newsrooms collaborated to identify and report false, misleading, and confusing content during the French election. Newsrooms "cross-checked each other's stories." - Training programs: First Draft trained journalists "in information verification" and helped "international newsrooms identify and debunk misinformation" - COVID-19 infodemic response (2020): Health professionals trained in managing the information disorder

First Draft's approach uses the taxonomy as a conceptual lens for understanding different types of problematic content. The seven content types (satire/parody, false connection, misleading content, false context, imposter content, manipulated content, fabricated content) are used as descriptive categories, not as structured classification criteria with decision procedures.

Key finding: Even First Draft — the organization most closely associated with the taxonomy's creators — uses the framework as a vocabulary and training tool rather than a structured classification system. No published First Draft materials include decision trees, scoring rubrics, or procedural checklists for classifying content.

Relevance to Hypotheses¶

Hypothesis	Relationship	Strength
H1	Contradicts	Even the creators' organization does not use it as a structured classification tool
H2	Strongly supports	Clear adoption as vocabulary/lens, clear absence of procedural implementation
H3	Contradicts	Significant adoption has occurred — 37+ newsrooms trained

Context¶

The fact that First Draft — co-founded by Claire Wardle herself — uses the taxonomy as a conceptual lens rather than a classification tool is strong evidence that the taxonomy was never intended to be a procedural classification system. It was designed to reshape how people think about information disorder, not to provide a classification algorithm.