Internews’ Framework for Information Integrity

Harmful information, such as disinformation, misinformation, and hate speech, complicates and exacerbates the worlds’ most pressing societal and political challenges. Internews understands harmful information to be an ecosystemic problem. We believe that strong and resilient information ecosystems are our best defense against diverse information-related threats. ‘Information Integrity’ is a term that refers primarily to the qualities present in trustworthy information that helps and does not harm. However, ensuring that information integrity prevails over harmful information requires a diverse range of work coordinated across both the supply and demand sides of the information ecosystem.

The Framework is based on Internews formative Information Ecosystem work that conceptualizes an interactive relationship between a Supply Side (aspects of information production) and a Demand Side (aspect of ‘information behaviors’). In the quest for Information Integrity, the Framework offers two overarching goals and four quadrants that lay out the objectives that need to be achieved to reach these goals. Together the Framework represents the full range of interventions required to advance information integrity.

The Information Integrity Framework is a practical tool for designing interventions that work towards a logically coherent vision of success when dealing with what is a demonstrably wicked problem. The Framework is used to analyze the threat landscape presented by a given context or ecosystem, and to map out the work that is needed to strengthen each quadrant.