Fact Checking For International News In A Post-Truth Context ——Taking ’Ming Cha’ And ’You Ju’ As An Example

In the "post-truth" era,false information and one-sided misinterpretation have disturbed people‘s accurate cognition of the world.Professional fact-checking has become an urgent need.2021 is a year of rapid development of domestic fact-checking news.Up to now,"You Ju" and "Ming Cha",which were born in August 2020 and September 2021,are still the only professional platforms engaged in international news fact-checking in China.Combining with the "post-truth" media environment and the news production theory,the author selected a total of 381 verified news articles from the two platforms from the date of establishment to December 5,2021 as research samples,referring to the research framework in Herbert Gans’ s book "What Determines the News".Based on content analysis of topic selection,verification and writing,the author tries to present the content characteristics of international news fact checking;In-depth interviews were conducted with the editors and staff of "Ming Cha" and the initiators of "You Ju",in order to grasp the logic of journalists’ production of verified news,that is,what epistemology and methodology they follow in the process;On this basis,it analyzes the current situation and challenges of international news fact-checking.Through research,international news fact-checking has formed the following characteristics in news production: First,topics cover a wide range of topics and are highly selective,generally focusing on COVID-19,society,current politics,economy,military and other fields.Secondly,the sources of information are mainly rumors on social networks,and the verification subjects are mainly reporters’ investigation,supplemented by experts’ interpretation.The verification Angle is mostly "confirmation or falsification",and the means of verification are diverse.Finally,In the writing of verification news tends to present the complete verification process,and provide the verification paths and methods to avoid the subjective factors of reporters from affecting the verification results.The review process follows the model of the traditional newsroom and strictly implements multi-layer review.The requirement for accuracy is higher than timeliness.Therefore,Chinese media can learn from the production mode of "Ming Cha" and "You Ju" when developing fact-checking news,so as to realize a virtuous circle of international news and public opinion ecology.At the same time,attention should be paid to further optimize content production and establishing a collecting platform to concentrate high-quality resources.Strengthening personnel training and expanding the professional team of verification journalists.Improving the business model to achieve true sustainability.