Fighting Misperceptions and Doubting Journalists' Objectivity: A Review of Fact-checking Literature.

Fact checkers evaluate the truthfulness of political claims appearing in public. The practice has increased enormously in recent years. This review analyses research concerning political fact-checking; it presents what kind of studies have been made about fact-checking and introduces their main findings. Most of the literature focuses either on fact-checking as a profession or on its corrective potential. Research about the effectiveness of fact-checking offers mixed results: some find that fact-checking reduces misperceptions, others that corrections are often ineffective. It is also disputed whether fact checkers are consistent in their conclusions and whether their methods are reliable. Moreover, the literature is overwhelmingly focused in the US context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Political Studies Review is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)