“Going Offline”: Social Media, Source Verification, and Chinese Investigative Journalism During “Information Overload”

Abstract

Based on interviews with 25 investigative journalists in Beijing, China, this study suggests digital journalists may be increasingly challenged by a sense of "information overload" as they navigate social media and online environments crowded with dis-and mis-information, fake profiles and sources, and massive amounts of opinion journalism that is presented as professional journalism. This overload has reinforced Chinese investigative journalists' dedication to a conventional form of verification: meeting face-to-face with sources. This study contributes to scholarship on Chinese journalism by expanding knowledge about investigative journalists in the country and by complicating understandings of how journalists there work in an age of social media, disinformation, and increased interests in verification.

Countering vaccine hesitancy through medical expert endorsement

“…physicians say that COVID-19 vaccines are safe) (e.g. [68] , [69] ). In our results instead, we found that the medical source is effective when used to endorse a belief (i.e.…”

Challenges of Journalist Verification in the digital age on Society: A Thematic Review

“…According to de Haan et al (2022); explicitly designed algorithmic tools for journalistic research are rarely or never used. Xu and Gutsche (2021) confirm in their study that Chinese journalists still use offline tools for reviewing and sourcing information, while Western journalists have turned to digital and online tools. Therefore, tools developed for journalists' fact-checking must be simple and integrated into newsrooms' editorial systems to ensure effective news production.…”

“…In a contrary study by Zhang (2020), journalists believe that social media is a reliable news source, and the more one uses social media to verify facts, the less likely one is to cross-check them with interviews. Supported by Xu and Gutsche (2021), "information overload" clarifies that these journalists are neither unable nor unwilling to verify online material due to "overload". Therefore, several journalists have been charged with spreading Fake News.…”

Disinformation and Artificial Intelligence: the Case of Online Journalism in China

“…At the same time, AI enables also the possibility to detect disinformation (Kaplan, 2020), when the process is guided by professionals. This feature can be very interesting in a country like China, where rumours are forbidden in media (Guo, 2020), and individual fact-checking requires a heavy investment of time (Xu & Gutsche, 2021), or it is not commonly performed (Wang et al, 2022), due to the link between media and political institutions and leaders. To do this, we agree with Xi & Latif (2022) that a "double gatekeeping" (p. 41) is needed, the first gatekeeping should be performed from the machine, to the sources; and the second one should be completed from a professional to the machine results.…”