Fighting Misperceptions and Doubting Journalists’ Objectivity: A Review of Fact-checking Literature
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Fact checkers evaluate the truthfulness of political claims appearing in public. The practice has increased enormously in recent years. This review analyses research concerning political fact-checking; it presents what kind of studies have been made about fact-checking and introduces their main findings. Most of the literature focuses either on fact-checking as a profession or on its corrective potential. Research about the effectiveness of fact-checking offers mixed results: some find that fact-checking reduces misperceptions, others that corrections are often ineffective. It is also disputed whether fact checkers are consistent in their conclusions and whether their methods are reliable. Moreover, the literature is overwhelmingly focused in the US context.
Source: Political Studies Review
Authors: Sakari Nieminen, Lauri Rapeli
Institutions: University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Academy of Finland, Koneen Säätiö
Award: G4242842130
OpenAlex ID: W2883200748