If fact-checking is old, why can it be considered a journalistic innovation
In the midst of a context where false or imprecise information seems to expand throughout all platforms, journalism has found a way to expand its reach in the verification of facts and data
Verification of facts, also known as fact-checking, has been used by the North American media since the first half of the XX century, with the objective of reviewing the veracity of its own contents.
Then, is fact-checking a journalistic innovation? There are three reasons that confirm this question:
- It is applied to third party contents: if originally journalism verified the data of its own news and reports, today it does so with third party information, to contrast with different sources, from what politicians say to what is published in Whatsapp chains.
- It contributes a new ingredient to the objective of journalism: in the midst of an apparent explosion of false and imprecise information, the quality of journalism is measured according to its support of the citizens in the verification and critical consumption of news, messages, and publications in social networks. "The objective of journalism today is to cast doubts", states Daniel Mountain, participant in the "Encuentro iberoamericano de periodismo joven y emprendedor"(Ibero-American Meeting of Young and Entrepreneurial Journalism).
- It is an impulse toward the market diversification of the journalistic enterprise: the rise of fact-checking has encouraged several media to strengthen or create fact verification units, and it has also promoted the creation of journalism enterprises dedicated mainly or exclusively to this activity.
In Latin America there are several examples of entrepreneurships dedicated to fact-checking, such as Chequeado, in Argentina, Agência Lupa and Aos Fatos, in Brazil, Colombia Check in Colombia or UYCheck in Uruguay.
During the Ibero-American Meeting of Young and Entrepreneurial Journalism, Olivia Sohr shared the experience of Chequeado. Her testimony reflects how fact-checking is part of the journalistic innovation both in the narrative as well as the entrepreneurial aspects.
The meeting was organized by the Fundación Gabriel García Márquez para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI) (Gabriel Garcia Marquez Foundation for the New Ibero-American Journalism), the Asociación de Periodistas Europeos (APE) (Association of European Journalists), and CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, in alliance with the Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB) (Ibero-American General Secretariat), and the support of the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española en Cartagena (CFCE) (Training Center of the Spanish Cooperation in Cartagena). .
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