Empirical Study On Fact-Checking Journalism Website Reports

The information explosion in the digital age has reconstructed the social form and changed the fact of checking methods of media tradition,which has spawned a new form of reporting,fact-checking journalism.In 2009,the fact-checking independent news website Politi Fact.com won the Pulitzer Prize for domestic reports.During the 2008 US presidential election,the website,Politi Fact.com played an important role in verifying facts of nearly 750 political campaign ideas.The fact-checking reports have been escorting the public to judge the authenticity of information in campaign debates,speeches and propaganda.The existing domestic and foreign researches have been studied at fact-checking journalism from four dimensions: concept and theory,content production,function and effect,practices.However,there is no empirical research on fact-checking journalism in China.The empirical studies abroad also mainly observe the effects and influences of fact-checking journalism from the perspective of political science.Therefore,it is necessary to do empirical research on fact-checking journalism and its representative media.This study's research object is PolitiFact.com,the US fact-checking independent news website.And the sample reports contain 301 fact-checking reports published on Politi Fact.com during the month before and after the 2018 US mid-term election(October 6th,2016 to December 6th,2018).The research uses the methods of content analysis and literature research,in order to observe and study the reporting characteristics of Politi Fact.com from six dimensions: fact-checking issues,fact-checking objects,fact-checking scope,fact-checking sources,fact-checking results and reports release forms.This study found that the fact-checking reports published by PolitiFact.com follows the unified strategy of “importance” and “proximity” in the verification of fact-checking issues.The website has focused on the burning issues and the impact on individual life of public.In the selection of fact-checking objects and personnel involved in,the website adheres the basic principles of comprehensiveness,fairness and independence.No matter in the partisan nature of fact-checking objects,or in the position distribution and geographical distribution of fact-checking objects,the balance of fact-checking quantity is basically reached.In the selection of information sources for fact checking,the website insists on presenting the whole process of information sources and fact-checking transparently and openly,so as to realize the possibility of secondary fact-checking works by public.On the presentation of fact-checking results,the website has set up a highly stable and scientific information authenticity evaluation system--“Truth-O-Meter”,and try to ensure the truthfulness of fact-checking results by standardizing the work process and training the staff.In the selection of news release forms,the website adheres to the content-based,and enhances the user's reading experience through medium-length reports and with the combination of text and pictures.Last but not the least,the author pays attention to the value of fact-checking journalism,building professional political fact information platform and the socialization fact-checking in order to construct political fact space,which is used to discusses the significance and necessity of fact-checking journalism project for China's journalism and media industry.