Checking the fact-checkers: practices and effectiveness in southern Europe

Checking the Fact-checkers observes the main practices, agenda impact, audience attitudes and effectiveness of three fact-checkers in three southern European countries, Portugal, Spain and Italy; through cross-country surveys and newsrooms observation, interviews, focus group meetings and the application of an agenda-setting model based on machine learning. These countries have different histories and experiences in relation to fact-checking, but they all face similar challenges related to disinformation and the current political context, which justifies the relevance of this investigation.
The accelerated spread of disinformation content online, such as conspiracy theories, fake news, manipulated videos and images, has had a corrosive impact on society. The 2016 American presidential elections marked the beginning of the massive online fabrication of fake news as a crucial political weapon in the electoral campaign. Disinformation creates a social and political environment that exploits distrust in democratic institutions and takes advantage of growing political and social polarization. Since then, literature has recognized the entry of the current digital ecosystem – where social networks assume themselves as the maximum authority in the distribution of news content – into an information disorder, where lies increasingly assume the role of protagonist in the debate or discussion of political and social matters.
Fact-checking emerges as a crucial response to combat the use of lies, in various forms and guises, in public discourse. Identified as a practice that reveals facts using a scientific methodology, due to the rigor and transparency in the collection and processing of information, fact-checking has recently acquired greater preponderance, due to the need for journalists to analyze the veracity of declarations of interest public. However, fact-checking has faced harsh criticism, related to its effectiveness in correcting false beliefs and the selection and evaluation criteria focused essentially on political statements.
This project seeks to deepen the understanding of the practice of fact-checking, addressing its journalistic processes, audience perception and effectiveness in correcting false information. With a holistic approach, this project proposes specific objectives, such as identifying and analyzing fact-checking strategies, understanding the challenges faced by this journalistic movement and evaluating its ability to monitor the proliferation of online disinformation.