Interoperable Provenance Authentication of Broadcast Media using Open Standards-based Metadata, Watermarking and Cryptography

The spread of false and misleading information is receiving significant attention from legislative and regulatory bodies. Consumers place trust in specific sources of information, so a scalable, interoperable method for determining the provenance and authenticity of information is needed. In this paper we analyze the posting of broadcast news content to a social media platform, the role of open standards, the interplay of cryptographic metadata and watermarks when validating provenance, and likely success and failure scenarios. We conclude that the open standards for cryptographically authenticated metadata developed by the Coalition for Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) and for audio and video watermarking developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) are well suited to address broadcast provenance. We suggest methods for using these standards for optimal success.