Typology, Etiology, and Fact-Checking

A Pathological Study of Top Fake News in China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12909417
AutoresMin Wang (0000-0001-8567-8125, Wuhan University, autor correspondente), Mingke Rao (University of Leeds), Zhongqian Sun (Wuhan University)
Ano2020
Volume16
Fascículo4
Páginas719-737
Data de publicação2020-08-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2020.1806723
OpenAlexW3081148416
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas55

Truthfulness is the lifeblood of news. However, fake news, like a wide-spreading virus, is infecting the global journalism. Taking China’s top fake news from 2001 to 2019 as an example, the study endorses a social pathological approach to address the symptoms, etiology, and developing trend of fake news. Through symptoms diagnosis, the study contributes more categories to the previous typology of fake news: “click-bait,” “alarmist talk,” “subjective assumption,” “user-generated content (UGC)-news,” “hearsay,” and “incorrect-data news”. Etiology analysis shows that Chinese fake news is mainly about social life partially because of no previous tradition of verifying daily statements from politicians. Trend predictions reveal that online media, hearsay, and social life-related news of unverified single sources are the main problems which are different from the West and require special attention in the future. The proposed solution for the Chinese press and media outlets is to cooperate with internet platforms and establish a comprehensive fact-checking mechanism, integrating professional journalism, data and visualization technology, specialized knowledge, and communication efficiency

Advertising · Automatic summarization · Business · China · Hearsay · Internet privacy · Journalism · News media · Political science · Social media · Sociology · The Internet · Typology · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics