When are fact-checks effective? An experimental study on the inclusion of the misinformation source and the source of fact-checks in 16 European countries

Autor(en)

Patrick van Erkel, Peter van Aelst, Claes H. de Vreese, David Nicolas Hopmann, Jörg Matthes, James Stanyer, Nicoleta Corbu

Abstrakt

Despite increasing academic attention, several questions about fact-checking remain unanswered. First, it remains unclear to what extent fact-checks are effective across different political and media contexts. Second, we know little on whether features of the fact-check itself influence its success. Conducting an experiment in 16 European countries, this study aims to fill these gaps by examining two features of fact-checks that may affect their success: whether fact-checks include the political source of the misinformation, and the source of the fact-check itself. We find that fact-checks are successful in debunking misperceptions. Moreover, this debunking effect is consistent across countries. Looking at features of fact-checks, we find no indication that it matters whether fact-checks include the political source of the misinformation claim. Comparing fact-checks from independent organizations with those from public broadcasters, we do find, however, that who the fact-checker is matters, especially in combination with trust in this source.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Antwerp, University of Amsterdam (UvA), University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Loughborough University, University of Bucharest

Journal

Mass Communication and Society

ISSN

1520-5436

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2024.2321542

Publikationsdatum

03-2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Communication

Link zum Portal

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/when-are-factchecks-effective-an-experimental-study-on-the-inclusion-of-the-misinformation-source-and-the-source-of-factchecks-in-16-european-countries(a75ad2c5-9fab-4f0c-ade7-d55da63793c5).html