Fact-Checkers on the Fringe: Investigating Methods and Practices Associated With Contested Areas of Fact-Checking

Silvia Montaña-Niño, Victoria Vziatysheva, Ehsan Dehghan, Anand Badola, Guangnan Zhu, Otávio Vinhas, Michelle Riedlinger and Sofya Glazunova
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Silvia Montaña-Niño: Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne, Australia
Victoria Vziatysheva: Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Bern, Switzerland
Ehsan Dehghan: Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Anand Badola: Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Guangnan Zhu: Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Otávio Vinhas: School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin, Ireland
Michelle Riedlinger: Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Sofya Glazunova: School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Australia

Media and Communication, 2024, vol. 12

Abstract: This study investigates the methods and practices used by self-identified fact-checkers situated on the fringe of the field of fact-checking to support their agenda for public recognition and legitimacy. Using a case study approach and selecting nine cases across five countries (Russia, Brazil, India, China, and Singapore), we identify the most common distinguishable attributes and tactics associated with this ambiguous collection of actors. In addition to identifying how fringe fact-checkers weaponize fact-checking practices and exploit or mimic the social standing of accredited fact-checkers, we critique examples where state-supported fact-checkers associated with authoritarian governance structures fact-check for national interests. We propose a spectrum of fact-checkers including those where public or general interest fact-checkers follow journalistic ideals and align with accredited communities of practice or non-accredited peer recognition, and a collection of fringe fact-checkers ranging from “special interest” actors promoting specific political agendas to hostile actors with disruptive, destructive, and openly propagandistic interests and aims to destabilize the global public sphere. The article contributes to current research and debates about the institutionalization of fact-checking and the understudied area of fact-checking impersonation, a problematic activity associated with misinformation and propaganda on platforms and the internet.

Keywords: fact checking; fact-checking norms; fringe fact-checkers; International Fact-Checking Network; politics; state-sponsorship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v12:y:2024:a:8688

DOI: 10.17645/mac.8688

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