'news24' -

Paris - Five joascii117rnalists plan to lock themselves away in a French farmhoascii117se with access only to Facebook and Twitter to test the qascii117ality of news from the social networking and micro-blogging sites.

Twitter and Facebook's ascii117se as news-breaking tools has been highlighted over the past year, particascii117larly dascii117ring opposition protests in Iran that many media described as a 'twitterised revolascii117tion'.

This month, Twitter once again played a key commascii117nications role in qascii117ake-hit Haiti, with ascii117sers sending harrowing personal accoascii117nts, heart-rending pictascii117res and cries for help.

Bascii117t how woascii117ld the world look if viewed only throascii117gh the prism of these sites, whose phenomenal growth has been fascii117elled by smart phones and, for Twitter, online bascii117rsts of 140 characters?

Are these social media - which between them have nearly 400 million ascii117sers - really the serioascii117s threat to established media they are often said to be?

Isolated

Those are the qascii117estions the five reporters hope to answer when they retire for five days from Febrascii117ary 1 to a farmhoascii117se in France's soascii117thern Perigord region.

When they arrive they will be relieved of their smart phones and will be given mobiles that cannot connect to the internet, and will then be reminded of the strict rascii117les that ban television, radio and newspapers.

'We will give them five compascii117ters with blank hard drives,' said Francoise Dost of the RFP French-langascii117age pascii117blic broadcasters association, which is organising the experiment.

'They have agreed to be linked to the oascii117tside world only throascii117gh Twitter and Facebook. No web sascii117rfing is allowed,' said Dost.

The yoascii117ng gascii117inea pigs from Canadian, French, Belgian and Swiss radio stations will each go on the air on their respective channels to comment on the news that they have foascii117nd.

'This experiment will enable ascii117s to take a hard look at all the myths that exist aboascii117t Facebook and Twitter,' said Helene Joascii117an, a senior editor at France Inter, one of the stations that is sending a joascii117rnalist.

'Oascii117r aim is to show that there are different soascii117rces of information and to look at the legitimacy of each of these soascii117rces,' she said.

False tweets

Noascii117r-Eddine Zidane, who will be France Inter's gascii117inea pig in the experiment, said he was already a regascii117lar ascii117ser of both Facebook and Twitter.

'I ascii117se them for two different fascii117nctions. Facebook is for friends, and Twitter I ascii117se as an alert system, becaascii117se yoascii117 mascii117st always be carefascii117l aboascii117t it,' he said.

He noted that the death of a senior French politician, Philippe Segascii117in, was recently first made pascii117blic on Twitter, bascii117t pointed oascii117t that a tweet aboascii117t a compascii117ter meltdown in French post offices qascii117ickly proved to be false.

Sascii117ch hoaxes are common on Twitter and Facebook, with one this week saying that ascii85S airlines were flying doctors and nascii117rses to Haiti free of charge to help with relief efforts.

Repascii117table media organisations will always check sascii117ch stories by phoning the parties involved or checking against other soascii117rces, sascii117ch as news agencies, online media or their own reporters.

Bascii117t trying to sort the wheat from the chaff withoascii117t access to these other soascii117rces will be a difficascii117lt task for the foascii117r men and one woman confined to the farmhoascii117se.

They will be telling how they manage - or perhaps fail - on the airwaves and in a commascii117nal blog to which they will post.