In this essay, we set forth the theory of communicative (dis)enfranchisement (TCD). The TCD is useful for exploring the ramifications of the hegemonic ideologies which constrain and afford our everyday lives, and which are constructed and reflected in disenfranchising talk (DT). The TCD also asks what communication mechanisms work to reify and resist these hegemonic ideologies. We first introduce the warrant for this theorizing, then overview the assumptions of critical postmodernism and propositions of the TCD. We offer guidance for using the TCD via example research questions, suitable contexts, methodological tools, and conclusions researchers can potentially render. We offer criteria for evaluating the TCD regarding its consistency with critical postmodernism, utility as a heuristic framework, and capacity for claims-making. We respond to potential critiques of the TCD by distinguishing the TCD from six related bodies of communication theorizing, and by addressing the purported opaqueness of critical theorizing. Finally, we offer an example analysis to illustrate the TCD in research practice.
{"title":"Theory of communicative (dis)enfranchisement: introduction, explication, and application","authors":"Elizabeth A Hintz, Kristina M Scharp","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqae002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae002","url":null,"abstract":"In this essay, we set forth the theory of communicative (dis)enfranchisement (TCD). The TCD is useful for exploring the ramifications of the hegemonic ideologies which constrain and afford our everyday lives, and which are constructed and reflected in disenfranchising talk (DT). The TCD also asks what communication mechanisms work to reify and resist these hegemonic ideologies. We first introduce the warrant for this theorizing, then overview the assumptions of critical postmodernism and propositions of the TCD. We offer guidance for using the TCD via example research questions, suitable contexts, methodological tools, and conclusions researchers can potentially render. We offer criteria for evaluating the TCD regarding its consistency with critical postmodernism, utility as a heuristic framework, and capacity for claims-making. We respond to potential critiques of the TCD by distinguishing the TCD from six related bodies of communication theorizing, and by addressing the purported opaqueness of critical theorizing. Finally, we offer an example analysis to illustrate the TCD in research practice.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139568369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature documentaries are an entertaining and informative genre that appears well-suited to environmental communication. However, producers of nature documentaries face a dilemma: Although they aim to inspire their audiences to act pro-environmentally, they fear ruining viewers’ entertainment experience if they address environmental destruction. Hence, conventional nature documentaries solely portray pristine nature. In contrast, recent nature documentaries have adopted a dual-message strategy by showing beautiful nature footage while also addressing conservation issues. We investigated how these dual-message nature documentaries affect viewers’ hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experiences and their pro-environmental behavior intentions compared with conventional nature documentaries. We integrated theoretical accounts from entertainment research and environmental psychology and tested our assumptions in three online experiments (total N = 1,362). Our findings suggest that dual-message nature documentaries evoke weaker hedonic experiences than conventional documentaries but stronger eudaimonic experiences (i.e., mixed affect and reflection) that mediate the effect of dual-message documentaries on pro-environmental intentions.
{"title":"How dual-message nature documentaries that portray nature as amazing and threatened affect entertainment experiences and pro-environmental intentions","authors":"Anna Freytag, Daniel Possler","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad044","url":null,"abstract":"Nature documentaries are an entertaining and informative genre that appears well-suited to environmental communication. However, producers of nature documentaries face a dilemma: Although they aim to inspire their audiences to act pro-environmentally, they fear ruining viewers’ entertainment experience if they address environmental destruction. Hence, conventional nature documentaries solely portray pristine nature. In contrast, recent nature documentaries have adopted a dual-message strategy by showing beautiful nature footage while also addressing conservation issues. We investigated how these dual-message nature documentaries affect viewers’ hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experiences and their pro-environmental behavior intentions compared with conventional nature documentaries. We integrated theoretical accounts from entertainment research and environmental psychology and tested our assumptions in three online experiments (total N = 1,362). Our findings suggest that dual-message nature documentaries evoke weaker hedonic experiences than conventional documentaries but stronger eudaimonic experiences (i.e., mixed affect and reflection) that mediate the effect of dual-message documentaries on pro-environmental intentions.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"166 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139568362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Framing, a prominent communication theory, is often lamented as a fractured paradigm, leading some to offer radical changes to its conceptualization, operationalization, and application. Using a meta-theoretical and computational approach, we analyze three decades of framing research to examine academic silos, specializations, the canon’s formation, gender inequalities, authors’ origins, countries studied, and methods used in framing research. Instead of silos, our analysis of 5,291 papers and over 170,000 citations identified specializations formed around a core of canonic texts. While framing research has become more diverse over the years, males affiliated with U.S. institutions still predominately author canonical works. Results reject the isolated-silos hypothesis in favor of a view of framing as a bridging networked paradigm, coalescing around core assumptions, definitions, and approaches. These findings contrast with the common fractured-paradigm narrative and challenge calls for radical solutions.
{"title":"Meta-theorizing framing in communication research (1992–2022): toward academic silos or professionalized specialization?","authors":"Dror Walter, Yotam Ophir","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad043","url":null,"abstract":"Framing, a prominent communication theory, is often lamented as a fractured paradigm, leading some to offer radical changes to its conceptualization, operationalization, and application. Using a meta-theoretical and computational approach, we analyze three decades of framing research to examine academic silos, specializations, the canon’s formation, gender inequalities, authors’ origins, countries studied, and methods used in framing research. Instead of silos, our analysis of 5,291 papers and over 170,000 citations identified specializations formed around a core of canonic texts. While framing research has become more diverse over the years, males affiliated with U.S. institutions still predominately author canonical works. Results reject the isolated-silos hypothesis in favor of a view of framing as a bridging networked paradigm, coalescing around core assumptions, definitions, and approaches. These findings contrast with the common fractured-paradigm narrative and challenge calls for radical solutions.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139110339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lene Aarøe, Kim Andersen, Morten Skovsgaard, Flemming Svith, Rasmus Schmøkel
Exemplars are central in news reporting. However, extreme negative exemplars can bias citizens’ factual perceptions and attributions of political responsibility. Nonetheless, our knowledge of the factors shaping journalistic preferences for including exemplars in news stories is limited. We investigate the extent to which educational socialization, psychological biases, and editorial policy shape journalistic preferences for extreme negative exemplars. We field large-scale survey experiments to a population sample of journalism students, a nationally representative sample of citizens, and a representative sample of “young people” and obtain evaluations of news value, newsworthiness, and behavioral measures of the actual write-up of news articles. We find significant support for the role of editorial policy and limited support for the role of educational socialization and psychological biases. In a time where economic pressures and the proliferation of digital media potentially lead editors to prioritize clickbait, these findings suggest that structural biases in news coverage may be aggravated.
{"title":"The journalistic preference for extreme exemplars: educational socialization, psychological biases, or editorial policy?","authors":"Lene Aarøe, Kim Andersen, Morten Skovsgaard, Flemming Svith, Rasmus Schmøkel","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad041","url":null,"abstract":"Exemplars are central in news reporting. However, extreme negative exemplars can bias citizens’ factual perceptions and attributions of political responsibility. Nonetheless, our knowledge of the factors shaping journalistic preferences for including exemplars in news stories is limited. We investigate the extent to which educational socialization, psychological biases, and editorial policy shape journalistic preferences for extreme negative exemplars. We field large-scale survey experiments to a population sample of journalism students, a nationally representative sample of citizens, and a representative sample of “young people” and obtain evaluations of news value, newsworthiness, and behavioral measures of the actual write-up of news articles. We find significant support for the role of editorial policy and limited support for the role of educational socialization and psychological biases. In a time where economic pressures and the proliferation of digital media potentially lead editors to prioritize clickbait, these findings suggest that structural biases in news coverage may be aggravated.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138559392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Communication research has been one of the fastest-growing disciplines across the social sciences over the last two decades in terms of the numbers of Social Science Citation Indexed journals and articles. However, whether Communication is an independent discipline remains debated. Of various criticisms, one extreme considers Communication too dependent on other disciplines, whereas the other regards Communication as too inward-looking. In the current study, we measure and analyze citations of articles not only among communication scholars but also between communication scholars and their counterparts from other disciplines to evaluate the performance of communication research. Our findings suggest that communication research has maintained balanced citation patterns, with a 20% self-citation rate, a 1:1 ratio between incoming and outgoing citations, and a high diversity of in- and out-citations across social science disciplines. The results may serve as useful food for thought for future evaluation of communication discipline.
{"title":"Is communication a dependent or involuted discipline? A citation analysis of communication publications from 2010 to 2020","authors":"Jiaying Hu, Jeffry Oktavianus, Jonathan J H Zhu","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad039","url":null,"abstract":"Communication research has been one of the fastest-growing disciplines across the social sciences over the last two decades in terms of the numbers of Social Science Citation Indexed journals and articles. However, whether Communication is an independent discipline remains debated. Of various criticisms, one extreme considers Communication too dependent on other disciplines, whereas the other regards Communication as too inward-looking. In the current study, we measure and analyze citations of articles not only among communication scholars but also between communication scholars and their counterparts from other disciplines to evaluate the performance of communication research. Our findings suggest that communication research has maintained balanced citation patterns, with a 20% self-citation rate, a 1:1 ratio between incoming and outgoing citations, and a high diversity of in- and out-citations across social science disciplines. The results may serve as useful food for thought for future evaluation of communication discipline.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"64 40","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71524877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kim B Serota, Timothy R Levine, Liza Zvi, David M Markowitz, Tony Docan-Morgan
Abstract Truth-default theory (TDT), a theory of human deception and deception detection, has two propositions that focus on the overall rate of lying and individual variation in the frequency of lying behavior. The distribution of lie prevalence is specified to exhibit a non-normal, positively skewed distribution in which the majority of people are normatively honest, and most lies are told by a few prolific liars. Together, these predictions form the few prolific liars modules in TDT. Although the findings of prior research align with TDT predictions, the pan-cultural scope of TDT warrants testing such predictions with new and diverse samples. The current studies (total N = 3,463) sampled participants from China, Germany, Mexico, Israel, Kenya, Russia, and Brazil. Similar long-tail distributions were observed in each of the seven locations, and in language and cultural subsamples. These findings add to a growing empirical literature providing pan-cultural evidence consistent with TDT.
{"title":"The ubiquity of long-tail lie distributions: seven studies from five continents","authors":"Kim B Serota, Timothy R Levine, Liza Zvi, David M Markowitz, Tony Docan-Morgan","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad040","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Truth-default theory (TDT), a theory of human deception and deception detection, has two propositions that focus on the overall rate of lying and individual variation in the frequency of lying behavior. The distribution of lie prevalence is specified to exhibit a non-normal, positively skewed distribution in which the majority of people are normatively honest, and most lies are told by a few prolific liars. Together, these predictions form the few prolific liars modules in TDT. Although the findings of prior research align with TDT predictions, the pan-cultural scope of TDT warrants testing such predictions with new and diverse samples. The current studies (total N = 3,463) sampled participants from China, Germany, Mexico, Israel, Kenya, Russia, and Brazil. Similar long-tail distributions were observed in each of the seven locations, and in language and cultural subsamples. These findings add to a growing empirical literature providing pan-cultural evidence consistent with TDT.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"17 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135976123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Characters play an integral role in animated narratives, but their visual racial presentation has received limited attention. A diverse group of U.S. children watched a 15-min physical activity-promoting animated Sci-Fi narrative. They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, which varied the lead characters’ racial presentation: realistic racially unambiguous (Original: White children, Black mother), realistic racially ambiguous (Ambiguous: All with brown skin without specified race/ethnicity), and fantastical racially ambiguous (Fantastical: All with brown skin with fantastical hair-and-eye color schemes). We assessed narrative engagement, wishful identification, and physical activity intention. Controlling for social desirability and multigroup ethnic identity, children who watched Fantastical characters showed significantly higher narrative engagement than those who watched Original characters, but they did not statistically differ from those who watched Ambiguous characters. Structural equation modeling indicated that narrative engagement and wishful identification fully mediated the racial representation effect (Fantastical vs. Original) on physical activity intention.
{"title":"The effect of animated Sci-Fi characters’ racial presentation on narrative engagement, wishful identification, and physical activity intention among children","authors":"Amy Shirong Lu, Melanie C Green, Dar Alon","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Characters play an integral role in animated narratives, but their visual racial presentation has received limited attention. A diverse group of U.S. children watched a 15-min physical activity-promoting animated Sci-Fi narrative. They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, which varied the lead characters’ racial presentation: realistic racially unambiguous (Original: White children, Black mother), realistic racially ambiguous (Ambiguous: All with brown skin without specified race/ethnicity), and fantastical racially ambiguous (Fantastical: All with brown skin with fantastical hair-and-eye color schemes). We assessed narrative engagement, wishful identification, and physical activity intention. Controlling for social desirability and multigroup ethnic identity, children who watched Fantastical characters showed significantly higher narrative engagement than those who watched Original characters, but they did not statistically differ from those who watched Ambiguous characters. Structural equation modeling indicated that narrative engagement and wishful identification fully mediated the racial representation effect (Fantastical vs. Original) on physical activity intention.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"5 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134973333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Digital innovation is the future of work. The ongoing and interlinked transformation of digital technologies, work, communication, and organizing raises important theoretical questions. Integrating recombination-based innovation theory and institutional theory of communication, this article contributes a novel framework that specifies the theoretical linkages between macro-level institutions and digital innovation: Social actors negotiate tensions arising from multiple institutional logics through (a) attention allocation; (b) sensemaking; and (c) external, boundary-spanning networking. The framework can advance the study of communication by (a) reconciling conflicting and inconclusive empirical findings; (b) targeting research efforts; and (c) responding to critiques of communication scholarship as failing to address social contexts. By focusing on digital innovation and the interplay between societal structures and communicative action in shaping it, this article advances scholarly discussions on the future of work, conceptualizing digital innovation as an institutional as well as communicative accomplishment.
{"title":"Contextualizing communication for digital innovation and the future of work","authors":"Jiawei Sophia Fu, Joshua B Barbour","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad031","url":null,"abstract":"Digital innovation is the future of work. The ongoing and interlinked transformation of digital technologies, work, communication, and organizing raises important theoretical questions. Integrating recombination-based innovation theory and institutional theory of communication, this article contributes a novel framework that specifies the theoretical linkages between macro-level institutions and digital innovation: Social actors negotiate tensions arising from multiple institutional logics through (a) attention allocation; (b) sensemaking; and (c) external, boundary-spanning networking. The framework can advance the study of communication by (a) reconciling conflicting and inconclusive empirical findings; (b) targeting research efforts; and (c) responding to critiques of communication scholarship as failing to address social contexts. By focusing on digital innovation and the interplay between societal structures and communicative action in shaping it, this article advances scholarly discussions on the future of work, conceptualizing digital innovation as an institutional as well as communicative accomplishment.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"11 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50164615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lindsay Hahn, Katherine Schibler, Tahleen A Lattimer, Zena Toh, Alexandra Vuich, Raphaela Velho, Kevin Kryston, John O’Leary, Sihan Chen
How do terrorists persuade otherwise decent citizens to join their violent causes? Guided by early mass communication research investigating propaganda’s efficacy and the model of intuitive morality and exemplars, we investigated the persuasive moral appeals employed by terrorist organizations known to be successful at recruiting others to their causes. We compiled a database of N = 873 propaganda items created by N = 73 violent terrorist organizations and content analyzed the moral appeals emphasized in each. Results revealed that terrorist groups’ ideologies and motivations predicted the moral values they emphasized in their propaganda, and that ingroup loyalty and fairness appeals featured prominently across all propaganda. Terrorist groups’ emphasis on purity in their propaganda was positively correlated with their attack frequency and with the number of human casualties they caused worldwide and in the USA. Terrorists’ emphasis on ingroup loyalty in propaganda was also positively correlated with the number of US human casualties they caused. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
{"title":"Why we fight: investigating the moral appeals in terrorist propaganda, their predictors, and their association with attack severity","authors":"Lindsay Hahn, Katherine Schibler, Tahleen A Lattimer, Zena Toh, Alexandra Vuich, Raphaela Velho, Kevin Kryston, John O’Leary, Sihan Chen","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad029","url":null,"abstract":"How do terrorists persuade otherwise decent citizens to join their violent causes? Guided by early mass communication research investigating propaganda’s efficacy and the model of intuitive morality and exemplars, we investigated the persuasive moral appeals employed by terrorist organizations known to be successful at recruiting others to their causes. We compiled a database of N = 873 propaganda items created by N = 73 violent terrorist organizations and content analyzed the moral appeals emphasized in each. Results revealed that terrorist groups’ ideologies and motivations predicted the moral values they emphasized in their propaganda, and that ingroup loyalty and fairness appeals featured prominently across all propaganda. Terrorist groups’ emphasis on purity in their propaganda was positively correlated with their attack frequency and with the number of human casualties they caused worldwide and in the USA. Terrorists’ emphasis on ingroup loyalty in propaganda was also positively correlated with the number of US human casualties they caused. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"10 20","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50164624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In the scholarly literature on journalism and political communication, there has been an expectation that fact-checkers would play an important role in ensuring democratic accountability, especially during pivotal political moments. This piece scrutinizes the level of agreement between five Brazilian fact-checking groups and the reasons for divergences in their verdicts during the presidential debates of the 2022 campaign. The emphasis is on claims checked by two or more organizations. Through a mixed-methods approach, it shows a widespread lack of consistency among fact-checkers, which is explained by their conflicting methods and interpretations of candidates’ words. This study adds to the existing scholarship by challenging the dominant framework on fact-checking, putting into question its democracy-building role in critical circumstances, as well as the epistemology it relies on to assess the veracity of political discourse. Complementary, it introduces a valuable methodology for studying the rationale underlying fact-checking ratings.
{"title":"Assessing the consistency of fact-checking in political debates","authors":"Thales Lelo","doi":"10.1093/joc/jqad028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad028","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the scholarly literature on journalism and political communication, there has been an expectation that fact-checkers would play an important role in ensuring democratic accountability, especially during pivotal political moments. This piece scrutinizes the level of agreement between five Brazilian fact-checking groups and the reasons for divergences in their verdicts during the presidential debates of the 2022 campaign. The emphasis is on claims checked by two or more organizations. Through a mixed-methods approach, it shows a widespread lack of consistency among fact-checkers, which is explained by their conflicting methods and interpretations of candidates’ words. This study adds to the existing scholarship by challenging the dominant framework on fact-checking, putting into question its democracy-building role in critical circumstances, as well as the epistemology it relies on to assess the veracity of political discourse. Complementary, it introduces a valuable methodology for studying the rationale underlying fact-checking ratings.","PeriodicalId":48410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135830830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}