Countering Misinformation in Political Reporting: Enhancing Journalistic Legitimacy

Stephen Cushion; Maria Kyriakidou; Maria Kyriakidou

Book

Countering Misinformation in Political Reporting

Enhancing Journalistic Legitimacy

Stephen Cushion , Maria Kyriakidou and Maria Kyriakidou

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

Published by

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About this book

Investigates how political reporting can more effectively counter misinformation in order to enhance the public legitimacy of journalism

Informed by one of the largest studies to date on fact-checking and misinformation reporting
Includes original interviews with senior journalists and editors, analysis of online and broadcast news, and online diaries, surveys and focus groups with news audiences
Explores misinformation from an international perspective, with a particular focus on the UK and the US
Draws on comparisons with a range of national contexts – including non-Western countries - to explore debates and issues surrounding misinformation
Goes beyond studies that focus exclusively on disinformation solely emanating from social media and identifies where misinformation can spread through mainstream media

This book examines how journalists should deal with the growing tide of political disinformation and public scepticism towards news media. Informed by the latest research from the UK and around the world, the book draws on a series of UK-based studies over a six-year period between 2019-2024, systematically analysing over 4000 news items and sources across fact-checking sites and broadcast programming. It examines audiences through a survey of more than 1,000 people, a news diary study of 200 participants, and fourteen focus groups, in addition to interviewing some of the most prominent news editors and journalists in broadcast news. The authors look beyond disinformation emanating from online and social media platforms to identify where and how misinformation can spread across mainstream media. To enhance the legitimacy of journalism and better serve the public, they argue that news reporting should more regularly and robustly confront false and misleading information from politicians.

Topics

Publicly Available

Frontmatter
i

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Contents
v

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List of Tables
vi

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Publicly Available

Acknowledgements
ix

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Open Access

Introduction: Journalistic Legitimacy in the Age of Misinformation
1

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1. Journalistic Understandings of Disinformation
15

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2. Audience Understandings of Disinformation
32

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3. Beyond Disinformation: Interpreting Misinformation from Mainstream Media
52

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4. (Mis)understanding Government Responsibility
70

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5. Comparing the Impartiality of Cross-National and Cross-Platform Fact-Checking
85

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6. Fact-Checking in News Reporting
99

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7. Audience Engagement with Fact-Checking
126

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8. Countering Misinformation in Political Reporting
146

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References
161

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Open Access

Index
178

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

August 31, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9781399533829

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

200

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399533829

eBook ISBN: 9781399533829

Keywords for this book

journalism; disinformation; news audiences; journalistic legitimacy; political reporting; fact-checking

Audience(s) for this book

For universities and colleges of further and higher education

Countering Misinformation in Political Reporting

Overview

About this book

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Journalistic Legitimacy in the Age of Misinformation

1. Journalistic Understandings of Disinformation

2. Audience Understandings of Disinformation

3. Beyond Disinformation: Interpreting Misinformation from Mainstream Media

4. (Mis)understanding Government Responsibility

5. Comparing the Impartiality of Cross-National and Cross-Platform Fact-Checking

6. Fact-Checking in News Reporting

7. Audience Engagement with Fact-Checking

8. Countering Misinformation in Political Reporting

References

Index

Bibliographic data