WHAT IS FACT-CHECKING ETHICS? EXAMINING FACT-CHECKERS’ ETHICAL PRACTICES AND FACTORS OF INFLUENCE IN SEVEN COUNTRIES IN THE GLOBAL NORTH AND SOUTH

Abstract

This case study research investigated what constitutes excellence in fact-checking ethical practices through the perspectives of fact-checkers from 12 fact-checking organizations in North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Muslim-majority South Asia. Following interviews with 28 fact-checkers from seven countries – U.S., Canada, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan and Bangladesh – this study also investigates these fact-checkers’ perceptions on factors that influence their ethical decision-making and how these perceived factors of influence play different roles in fact-checking in three different cultural contexts. Guided by virtue ethics, MacIntyre (2007)’s theory of practice, Islamic ethics, and the African moral theory of Ubuntu, this study also analyzes documents of fact-checking organizations and the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles. Analysis of interview data reveals eight themes capturing the interviewed fact-checkers’ normative commitments. Across these themes, the fact-checkers consistently emphasize core principles and key virtues needed for ethical practice in fact-checking. These themes of the standards of excellence in fact-checking are: verify the claim with diligence; be unbiased, neutral, nonpartisan and fair; be transparent about your practice; use sources and provide attribution to them; consider harm and virality; be skeptical and curious and search for truth; make corrections; simplify storytelling for clarity and ensuring democracy. The analysis also led to the emergence of the following overarching themes of influencing factors: audience, personal level, religion and morality, IFCN codes, influence from external factors such as state, social media platforms and partners, and Ubuntu. All the fact-checkers confirm the presence of one or the other influence in their ethical decision-making process and practice. The study finds that influencing factors operate at two primary levels: the macro or cultural level, and the meso or organizational level. This study introduces an ethics-based claim selection framework, emphasizing harm-virality, for fact-checking. Findings from this study also reveal that fact-checking ethics is simultaneously convergent and culturally situated, with religious and moral frameworks such as Islamic ethics and Ubuntu demonstrating that geographical and cultural contexts continue to shape how ethical principles are understood and applied. A key contribution of the study is that it discusses some key concepts and character traits relevant to the fact-checking practice, contributing to the virtue ethics scholarship and MacIntyre’s idea of practice.