Dow Jones Executive David Minkin: Masquerading News Growing Threat

By Yasuhiro Kobayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

16:21 JST, July 1, 2023

NEW YORK — David Minkin, a senior vice president of Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, emphasized the effectuality of a digital technology called Originator Profile (OP) in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Minkin responded to Yomiuri’s written interview questions on the occasion of the World News Media Congress held in Taipei this week.

“We need to drive home the importance of trusted news organizations and elevate the work of real journalists to distinguish the work they do from less trustworthy sources publishing disinformation or opinions labeled as facts,” Minkin said.

Minkin expressed concerns for the credibility of such matters as posts on social media. “The prevalence of alarming, sensational content masquerading as news is a growing threat to society,” he said.

In this regard, News Corp, the parent company of Dow Jones, has participated in the Originator Profile Collaborative Innovation Partnership, which includes The Yomiuri Shimbun, to join efforts to prevent false information. The OP system is designed to reveal and confirm the credibility of the source or originator of online information.

It has been argued that fake information produced by generative artificial intelligence will have impacts on voting in the U.S. presidential election next year.

Minkin expressed that efforts such as Originator Profile must be actively carried out to counter such concerns. He said labeling distinguished, trusted, verifiable news reporting leads to “democratic principles of informed decision-making and open discourse.”