Debunking: The Method of Uncovering Hoaxes and Fake News Cover Image

Debunking: The Method of Uncovering Hoaxes and Fake News
Debunking: The Method of Uncovering Hoaxes and Fake News

Author(s): Magdaléna Švecová, Anna Kačincová Predmerská
Subject(s): Media studies, Social differentiation, Health and medicine and law, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Globalization
Published by: Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave, Fakulta masmediálnej komunikácie
Keywords: Debunking; Disinformation; Hoax; Misinformation; Objectivity; Online Journalism; Visualisation;

Summary/Abstract: Demands on the current journalists working especially in the online environment are still growing. Their task is no longer only to provide verified information, but also to draw attention to possible disinfectants of various kinds. This method of detecting misstatements is called debunking. The authors of the paper made a research on 5 of 10 of the most read online Slovak portals: TVNoviny.sk, hnonline.sk, DenníkN.sk, Dnes24.sk and Startitup.sk. They followed how do the authors of debunking texts alert their readers to widespread lies. They evaluated their empirical findings and compared them with the findings published in the theoretical part of the article - with the opinions of psychologists on the optimal construction of journalistic texts, in those their authors try to warn the readers to untruths those were spread usually on social networks.

  • Issue Year: 8/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 191-201
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English