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Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective

Maria Kyriakidou, Stephen Cushion, Ceri Hughes, Marina Morani

Journalism Practice, Volume: 17, Issue: 10, Pages: 2123 - 2139

Swansea University Author: Ceri Hughes

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Abstract

Fact-checking has been identified as a significant journalistic tool in the fight against disinformation. Relevant studies have focused on its emergence as a movement within journalism aiming at renewing the profession, as well as its effectiveness in challenging disinformation, especially during el...

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Published in: Journalism Practice
ISSN: 1751-2786 1751-2794
Published: Informa UK Limited 2023
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60722
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first_indexed 2022-08-03T12:00:39Z
last_indexed 2023-01-13T19:21:03Z
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spelling v2 60722 2022-08-03 Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective ea8460af971fe3e3aceb250c199a0f14 Ceri Hughes Ceri Hughes true false 2022-08-03 AMED Fact-checking has been identified as a significant journalistic tool in the fight against disinformation. Relevant studies have focused on its emergence as a movement within journalism aiming at renewing the profession, as well as its effectiveness in challenging disinformation, especially during elections. However, little has been said about how audiences themselves understand fact-checking and employ it in their daily consumption of news. In this article, we answer these questions by drawing upon two sets of data. The first consists of fourteen focus group discussions in the UK, which included 52 participants, and were conducted online between April and May 2021. The second consists of two qualitative surveys that explored news consumers’ understandings of fact-checking and their evaluations of current fact-checking practices of UK media during the same period. We conclude that the use of fact-checking remains largely peripheral, and its influence is minimal in people’s news consumption. However, there is an appetite for more fact-checking in television news, as a way of holding politicians into account and helping the public better understand politics. In this context, we argue, if fact-checking is to play an important role in political discourse, it should become a regular part of broadcast journalism. Journal Article Journalism Practice 17 10 2123 2139 Informa UK Limited 1751-2786 1751-2794 Fact-checking; audience studies; misinformation; focus groups; survey; television news 26 11 2023 2023-11-26 10.1080/17512786.2022.2097118 COLLEGE NANME Media COLLEGE CODE AMED Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work was supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council [Grant Number AH/S012508/1]. 2024-05-07T14:12:04.8877887 2022-08-03T12:59:13.9890712 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR Maria Kyriakidou 1 Stephen Cushion 2 Ceri Hughes 3 Marina Morani 4 60722__24828__828c2baaa1c84ab8b8e95e9312d3e83b.pdf Questioning Fact Checking.pdf 2022-08-03T13:00:34.7008407 Output 1506481 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2022 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License true eng http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/
title Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
spellingShingle Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
Ceri Hughes
title_short Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
title_full Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
title_fullStr Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
title_sort Questioning Fact-Checking in the Fight Against Disinformation: An Audience Perspective
author_id_str_mv ea8460af971fe3e3aceb250c199a0f14
author_id_fullname_str_mv ea8460af971fe3e3aceb250c199a0f14_***_Ceri Hughes
author Ceri Hughes
author2 Maria Kyriakidou
Stephen Cushion
Ceri Hughes
Marina Morani
format Journal article
container_title Journalism Practice
container_volume 17
container_issue 10
container_start_page 2123
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
issn 1751-2786
1751-2794
doi_str_mv 10.1080/17512786.2022.2097118
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR
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description Fact-checking has been identified as a significant journalistic tool in the fight against disinformation. Relevant studies have focused on its emergence as a movement within journalism aiming at renewing the profession, as well as its effectiveness in challenging disinformation, especially during elections. However, little has been said about how audiences themselves understand fact-checking and employ it in their daily consumption of news. In this article, we answer these questions by drawing upon two sets of data. The first consists of fourteen focus group discussions in the UK, which included 52 participants, and were conducted online between April and May 2021. The second consists of two qualitative surveys that explored news consumers’ understandings of fact-checking and their evaluations of current fact-checking practices of UK media during the same period. We conclude that the use of fact-checking remains largely peripheral, and its influence is minimal in people’s news consumption. However, there is an appetite for more fact-checking in television news, as a way of holding politicians into account and helping the public better understand politics. In this context, we argue, if fact-checking is to play an important role in political discourse, it should become a regular part of broadcast journalism.
published_date 2023-11-26T14:12:04Z
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