Fact-checking Journalism In The Internet Age:a Comparative View

"Truth" has always been the unremitting pursuit of the journalism.As early as in the traditional media era,western media have already set up "fact checker" to ensure that the coverage published are accurate and true.There are also news ombudsmanship and correction and reply system to provide further protection.China also appeared the first fact checker in 2014.With the advent of the Internet age,truth has become more rare,Fake news has become more frequent.Especially in 2016,the “post-truth” era is coming,it seems that “truth” has no trace.The "fact-checking journalism",emerging rapidly in recent years,is committed to improving the authenticity of news in the Internet age to reconstruct a "true" world.So far,the global fact-checking project has reached 156,covering 55 countries and regions around the world.This paper selects the representative projects of the United States,FactCheck.org,Fact Checker;representative projects in Europe,Fullfact(UK),Reality Check(UK);and representative projects in China,“True” and “Seeking Truth”.Each media selects 20 reports,total 120 reports.With transparency as the theme,it is constructed as a concept,as a system and as a relationship with the public to build three levels,and compares the history and practice of fact-checking journalism among China,the United States,and Europe.Through vertical comparison,it is found that due to the lack of media self-discipline in the Internet age,the fact-checking journals follow the principle of transparency at both the conceptual and practical levels through the inheritance of the “sublation” of the fact-checking system in the traditional media era.Media wants to solve the crisis of trust in the journalism with introduction of external forces transparent and open,such as third-party fact-checking agencies and the public.The open structure of transparency itself makes the production of fact-checking news break through the operational paradigm of“black-box” fact-checking in the traditional media era,and exposes this process to the“foreground”,thus establishing a good interaction with the public and social systems.It not only provides opportunities for the public to fully participate in the news fact-checking process,but its transparency principle further promotes transparency and openness in other areas of society;in turn,transparency in other areas is also beneficial to the transparent injournalism.Through horizontal comparison,it is found that there are differences between the subject,the object and the target group between China and the West.In the West,the people who do the fact-checking are mainly journalists or editors who have gone out of the mainstream media,mainly checking the claims of the mainstream media and politicians,and striving for the trust of the public;in China,the object of fact-checking is directed at the media,and the content is mostly social and health information that is closely related to the public life.This stems from the difference between Chinese and Western news concepts and checking purposes.The fact-checking models in the United States and Europe are relatively close,but there are differences in the content.China can further expand its projects,further expand its topics,further develop its fact-checking content,improve its transparency and interactivity,and accelerate the pace of development of fact-checking news.