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Abstract
This study investigated how the emergence and practice of a fact-checking movement in South Korea have assisted the revival of journalism with a primary focus on truth-seeking and information verification. It examined in what ways Yonhap News Agency (YNA), a leading news agency in South Korea, fact-checked social and political issues, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed in-depth interviews with fact-checking journalists at YNA. In addition to that, to trace YNA’s fact-checking activities and cross-check the findings from the interviews, this study conducted textual analysis of YNA’s fact-checking articles, examining their claims, evidence, and judgments. This study found that YNA’s fact-checking services contributed to preventing the spread of the ‘infodemic’ in South Korea. YNA’s fact-checking journalism can be considered as one form of ethical journalism that ensured incorrect information did not pass through journalistic gates in the pre-internet era. This study underscores the significance of fact-checking journalism in enhancing the quality of journalism worldwide.
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References
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- Allcott, H, & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211–236. DOI: 10.1257/jep.31.2.211
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- Bell, E. (2019). The fact-checking industry. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/fact-check-industry-twitter.php
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- Jung, E. (2021, May). Fact-checking of the Korean press: Focusing on achievements and prospects of SNU FactCheck during the last 4 years. SNU FactCheck.
- Kirby, J. (2018, August 28). UN report: Myanmar generals should be prosecuted for genocide against the Rohingya. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2018/8/27/17786078/un-myanmar-genocide-rohingya-rakhine-state
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- Tandoc, E. C., Lim, Z. W., & Ling, R. (2018). Defining ‘fake news’: A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2),137–153. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
- Thussu, D. K. (2019). International communication: Continuity and change. New York: Bloomsbury.
- Tworek, H., & Lee, Y. (2021, July 12). Lessons from South Korea’s approach to tackling disinformation. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/lessons-from-south-koreas-approach-to-tackling-disinformation/
- Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
- Warren, J. (2015, April 20). Academic research: ‘Huge growth’ in fact checking by the media. Poynter. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2015/academic-research-huge-growth-in-fact-checking-by-the-media/
- Yonhap. (2023). About YonhapNews: Yonhap News is South Korea’s representative newswire service. Yonhap News Agency.
References
Adair, B. (2014, April 4). Duke study finds fact-checking growing around the world. Duke Rporters’s LAB. https://reporterslab.org/duke-study-finds-fact-checking-growing-around-the-world/
Ahmed, Y. (2016, June 26). It’s offensive to call Brexit an ‘Independence Day’-the EU wasn’t an enslaving colonial power like Britain. Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/it-s-offensive-to-call-brexit-an-independence-day-the-eu-wasn-t-a-colonial-power-enslaving-your-nation-a7104286.html
Allcott, H, & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211–236. DOI: 10.1257/jep.31.2.211
Allyn, B. (2019, May 30). New U.S. measles cases break 25-year-old record, health officials say. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/30/728382757/new-u-s-measles-cases-breaks-25-year-old-record-health-officials-say#:~:text=Earlier%20this%20week%2C%20the%20CDC,year%2Dend%20total%20in%201994.
Bell, E. (2019). The fact-checking industry. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/fact-check-industry-twitter.php
Bruni, F. (2018, Oct. 30). The Internet will be the death of us. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/opinion/internet-violence-hate-prejudice.html
Castle, S. (2019, March 9). Of civil wars and family feuds: Brexit is more divisive than ever. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/world/europe/brexit-friendship.html
Coddington, M., Molyneux, L., Lawrence, R. G. (2014). Fact Checking the campaign: How political reporters use Twitter to set the record straight (or not). The International Journal of Press/Politics, 19(4), 391–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161214540942
Davidson, J. (2019, March 18). State of the nation: Alleged white-supremacist killer finds inspiration in Trump. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/18/state-nation-alleged-white-supremacist-killer-finds-inspiration-trump/
Frenkel, S., & Benner, K. (2018, February 17). To stir discord in 2016, Russians turned most often to Facebook. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/technology/indictment-russian-tech-facebook.html
Graves, L. (2016). Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Jung, E. (2021, May). Fact-checking of the Korean press: Focusing on achievements and prospects of SNU FactCheck during the last 4 years. SNU FactCheck.
Kirby, J. (2018, August 28). UN report: Myanmar generals should be prosecuted for genocide against the Rohingya. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2018/8/27/17786078/un-myanmar-genocide-rohingya-rakhine-state
Kirkpatrick, D. (2017, Nov. 15). Signs of Russian meddling in Brexit referendum. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/world/europe/russia-brexit-twitter-facebook.html
Lim, B. (2017, June 16). What’s behind South Korea’s fact-checking boom? Tense politics, and the decline of investigative journalism. Poynter. https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2017/whats-behind-south-koreas-fact-checking-boom-tense-politics-and-the-decline-of-investigative-journalism/
McNair, B. (2018). Fake News: Falsehood, fabrication and fantasy in journalism. New York: Routledge.
McIntyre, L. (2018). Post-truth. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Pan American Health Organization. (2020). Understanding the infodemic and misinformation in the fight against Covid-10. https://www.paho.org/en/documents/understanding-infodemic-and-misinformation-fight-against-covid-19
Romano, A. (2020, May 22). New Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows coronavirus conspiracy theories spreading on the right may hamper vaccine efforts. Yahoo!News.
Shoshana, Z. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism. New York: Hachette Book Group.
Snopes. (2021). About us: Snopes is the Internet’s definitive fact-checking resources. Snopes.com.
SNUFactCheck. (2022). About SNU FactCheck. Institute of Communication Research at Seoul National University.
Spinsanity. (2005, Jan. 19). Goodbye and spinsanity. spinsanity.org.
Stencel, M, & Luther, J. (2021, June 2). Fact-checking census shows slower growth. Duke Reporter’s LAB. https://reporterslab.org/fact-checking-census-shows-slower-growth/
Stone, W. (2021, June 8). Untangling disinformation: An anti-vaccine film targeted to black Americans spreads false information. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/08/1004214189/anti-vaccine-film-targeted-to-black-americans-spreads-false-information
Tandoc, E. C., Lim, Z. W., & Ling, R. (2018). Defining ‘fake news’: A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2),137–153. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Thussu, D. K. (2019). International communication: Continuity and change. New York: Bloomsbury.
Tworek, H., & Lee, Y. (2021, July 12). Lessons from South Korea’s approach to tackling disinformation. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/lessons-from-south-koreas-approach-to-tackling-disinformation/
Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Warren, J. (2015, April 20). Academic research: ‘Huge growth’ in fact checking by the media. Poynter. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2015/academic-research-huge-growth-in-fact-checking-by-the-media/
Yonhap. (2023). About YonhapNews: Yonhap News is South Korea’s representative newswire service. Yonhap News Agency.