Fact Checkers Facing Fake News and Disinformation in the Digital Age: A Comparative Analysis between Spain and United Kingdom

The current media ecosystem, derived from the consolidation of Information and Communication Technologies, shows a scenario in which the relationship between the media and their audience is being redefined. This represents a challenge for journalistic practice. In the digital age, the public activel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublications (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 3; p. 36
Main Authors López-Marcos, Casandra, Vicente-Fernández, Pilar
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.08.2021
Subjects
Audiences
Citizens
Communication
Comparative analysis
Consumption
Content analysis
disinformation
fact checkers
fact-checking agency
fake news
False information
Information sources
Journalism
Journalists
Opacity
Professionals
social media and new challenges
Social networks
Society
United Kingdom > UK
Spain
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Summary:The current media ecosystem, derived from the consolidation of Information and Communication Technologies, shows a scenario in which the relationship between the media and their audience is being redefined. This represents a challenge for journalistic practice. In the digital age, the public actively participates in the construction and dissemination of news through social networks. Faced with this loss of control by the media, fake news and disinformation are emerging as one of the main problems of journalistic practice in a competitive business context, and with a high saturation of news content. In this situation, fact checkers emerge as key players in the information verification process. This research comparatively analyses the main fact checkers in Spain and the United Kingdom through content analysis applied to their corporate websites to understand their characteristics and working methodologies. The results underline that they are concerned with the concepts of transparency and honesty, along with showing their funding streams. The rigorousness of the verification process also stands out, as well as the importance of dialogue with the audience in their work. While in Spain they are featured by their non-profit nature and their international coverage, UK fact checkers focus on national information and are sometimes conceived as a business.
ISSN:2304-6775
2304-6775
DOI:10.3390/publications9030036