The inability to authenticate Facebook data means newsrooms have to think hard about how heavily they lean on it. Nevertheless, the inclusion of Facebook trending data in questions posed to presidential candidates — with millions of voters watching on television — is proof of the high stakes. “The political conversation data Facebook shares — like we did with broadcast partners during multiple presidential primary debates — is completely separate from Trending Topics,” D’Onofrio said. A spokeswoman for the Fox cable channels — alone among the GOP debate media sponsors in citing Facebook trending data — said journalists “chose the topics and only used Facebook for supplementary data. No one but Facebook knows what’s really trending on Facebook.

Source: Washington Post May 22, 2016 06:30 UTC