Awareness and use of fact-checkers: a tool to regenerate journalistic authority in a polarized environment?
Abstract
The principle of authority in journalism is structured around central concepts such as objectivity, verification and distance/neutrality (Schudson, 1978; Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2007; Deuze, 2005). In the new order of disinformation, in which the authority of journalism is questioned, fact-checking can act as a possible antidote (Walter et al., 2020). This study presents the results of citizens’ perceptions of journalistic authority and their awareness of fact-checkers and the role they play. Based on focus groups (10) and a representative national survey (n = 1001), our findings show that 50.5% of the sample do not know what fact-checkers are. 15.2% of them know what fact-checkers are but admit to never using them. Only 4.1% use fact-checkers regularly. Results also reveal a relevant finding: in a highly polarized media system such as Spain’s, fact-checkers can only with difficulty combat the spread of misinformation effectively. Their role must therefore be articulated within a broader strategic framework for fighting disinformation, in order to recover trust in journalism.
Keywords
fact-checking, perceptions, misinformation, surveyReferences
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