AUTOMATION OF FACT-CHECKING IN JOURNALISM: LIMITATIONS AND PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT

UDC 070

  • Igor Korolev − Senior Lecturer, PhD student, the Department of Medialogy. Belarusian State University (4, Nezavisimosti Ave., 220030, Minsk, Republic of Belarus). E-mail: iakorolev1996@gmail.com

Keywords: fact-checking, fact-checking automation, fact-checking automation systems, checkworthy claims, fake news.

For citation: I. Korolev. Automation of fact-checking in journalism: limitations and prospects for development. Proceedings of BSTU, issue 4, Print- and Mediatechnology, 2022, no. 2 (261), pp. 50–56 (In Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.52065/2520-6729-2022-261-2-50-56.

Abstract

Widespread technical and social mediatization has led to a significant increase of unverified information (including fake news) circulating in the media space. One of the ways to overcome the problem of deficit of resources for media editorial offices for high-quality and efficient processing of increased volume of unverified information is to automate the process of establishing the reliability of facts/factual claims (fact-checking). Based on the analysis of six popular automated fact-checking systems (“ClaimBuster”, “ClaimPortal”, “Squash”, “AFCNR”, “Full Fact” and “Context-Aware”), the article reveals the basic principles and algorithms of the functioning similar systems, as well as the limitations and prospects for the development of this field of journalism automation.

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11.03.2022