In the networked media ecosystem where information is abundant, rumors spread like wildfire and fake news maintains a large presence in media, everybody is looking for a sustainable model for fact-checking.
A five-member team, including three journalists with more than 30 years of experience combined, found that a sustainable model for fact-checking platforms consists of crowds, professional fact-checkers, and automated assistant tools that will increase efficiency and decrease costs.
They examined a crowd-curated, political fact-checking platform, reddit.com/politicalfactchecking, and identified the strong potential of a crowdsourced fact-checking model.
Their results contradict traditional beliefs that crowd is unable to fact-check and that it provides opinions, not facts. The study found that more than 50 percent of the user comments arguing either in support or against a claim contained factual evidence. Professionals can play the “moderator” and “seminar leader” role.
The results showed crowds can perform many mundane but important tasks under the guidance of professionals while programmers build tools to find credible sources and make sense of a large amount of user input.
The research team consisted of four members from the University of Mississippi, including two graduate students of Meek School of Journalism & New Media, and a journalism faculty member from the University of Oklahoma.
To read the full text of the study:
Hassan, N., Yousuf, M., Haque, M. M., Rivas, J. A. S., & Islam, M. K. Towards A Sustainable Model for Fact-checking Platforms: Examining the Roles of Automation, Crowds, and Professionals.
