Independent fact-checking platforms in Spain and Italy. Features, organisation and method

Abstract

In recent years the verification of information has become a relevant activity within journalism as a result of the increased circulation of fake news and its ready dissemination via platforms such as social networks. This project seeks to analyse the structure, composition and operation of the independent information verification platforms in Spain and Italy. To this end, different qualitative techniques were used, such as the case study applied to each of the initiatives, in-depth semistructured interviews with its co-founders or managers and web content analysis. This triangulation of techniques enabled us to draw conclusions and provide examples of interest to the research. The results reveal that the projects have a large community of followers on social networks and, also, that they are composed of a multidisciplinary staff verifying mainly political statements and the information circulating on the Internet and whose business model diverges from conventional journalism.