The main purpose of this paper is to present the role and importance of fact-checking initiatives in context of ongoing discussion concerning “fake news” and “post-truth”. These initiatives could be considered as noteworthy Media and Information Literacy (MIL) tools and the authors will analyse their potential in this area.
Significance of mass media in contemporary societies is obvious, same as political actors activity aimed at appearing in the media (both traditional and new) and be quoted. In the consequences the development of fake news production practices are also becoming more and more visible. Study conducted by MIT scholars has found that false news spreads more rapidly on the social network (Twitter) than real news does. If falsehood diffuses significantly faster and deeper than truth, media users need to be prepared not only to understand the news, but also to make judgements considering the nature of given news (and it means a sort of meta-reflection), which could be difficult for them.
In this context MIL could be considered a crucial competence in today’s societies and one of the most effective tools for counteracting fake news and also promoting independent, pluralistic media and information systems. Consequently, fact-checking initiatives could also be seen as important Media and Information Literacy (MIL) tools. They help to deal with the problem of distinguishing the truth from falsehood and manipulation in public space.
The authors will focus on case of Poland and present the development of Polish fact-checking initiatives aimed at content verification and correction of false information. Both independent initiatives created by civil society actors (for instance Demagog) and those created by the media (for instance Konkret24) will be examined. The authors will try to answer the question about their potential in the field of MIL. First step to answer this question will be desk research. The analysis will include data on the Polish fact-checking initiatives, research on fake news and MIL tools. To make the study more complete, the authors plan to conduct in-depth interviews with people involved in these initiatives. Collecting their opinion about (potential) educational aspects of fact-checking may help to determine the role of fact-checking initiatives as the MIL teaching tools.
