Content analysis of fact checking and TV news during 2021: data

This dataset is based on content analysis of news media across different UK public service media organisations between April and July 2021 with a focus on the way political claims were scrutinised across broadcast news and fact-checking platforms. To establish a comparison between online fact-checking and broadcast news, we first constructed and examined a comprehensive sample of fact-checking items systematically retrieved from the top three UK fact-checking organisations between 20 April – 31 July 2021. This resulted in N=355 items across BBC Reality Check (N=118, 33.2%), C4 FactCheck (N=25, 7%) and the independent organisation Full Fact (N=212, 59,7%). The sample of N=355 online fact-checking items represented the base on which we built our comparative content analysis study of fact-checking and broadcast coverage of claims. The chosen timeframe reflects a period of coverage which was no longer heavily and almost entirely driven by the coronavirus pandemic – although the significant persistence of pandemic coverage provided potentially interesting case studies with regards to disinformation. Each news item published on the platforms within the sampled period (including weekends) was included for analysis. To establish a comparison between fact-checking and television news, a broadcast sample was constructed with the purpose to identify potentially matching political claims featuring in both broadcast and fact-checking news. This would then allow a comparative assessment of how much scrutiny every claim received on broadcast and online coverage. To construct the broadcast sample, all stories reported by the online fact-checkers (BBC Reality Check, C4 FactCheck and Full Fact)  within the sample period (N=355) were searched for on Box of Broadcasts across BBC News at Ten and Channel 4 News bulletins on the same day and across the preceding and following week of coverage. Only those TV news items which matched the story reported on the fact-checking articles were included in the sample. This was carried out in order to achieve a sample of the same stories between the two platforms of online fact-checks and televised news broadcasts. We could then subsequently establish whether the same political claim featured in both fact-checking and broadcast and finally examine how the claim was scrutinised across different platforms.

本数据集基于对2021年4月至7月间英国不同公共服务媒体组织的新闻内容进行分析，重点关注政治声明在广播新闻和事实核查平台上的审查方式。为了比较在线事实核查与广播新闻之间的差异，我们首先系统地构建并审查了从英国前三大事实核查组织（20 April至31 July 2021年）中检索到的全面样本，包括BBC Reality Check（N=118，占比33.2%）、C4 FactCheck（N=25，占比7%）以及独立组织Full Fact（N=212，占比59.7%）。N=355的网络事实核查项目样本构成了我们构建事实核查与广播声明覆盖比较内容分析研究的基础。所选择的时间段反映了不再由冠状病毒大流行主导，尽管大流行的持续覆盖提供了关于虚假信息的有趣案例研究。在样本期间（包括周末）发布在平台上的每条新闻都被纳入分析范围。为了比较事实核查与电视新闻，构建了一个广播样本，旨在识别出现在广播和事实核查新闻中的潜在匹配政治声明。这将允许对每个声明在广播和在线报道中受到的审查程度进行对比评估。为了构建广播样本，搜索了样本期间（N=355）在线事实核查者（BBC Reality Check、C4 FactCheck和Full Fact）报道的所有故事，在BBC News at Ten和Channel 4 News快讯的同一日及其前后一周的报道中。仅包括与事实核查文章中报道的故事相匹配的电视新闻项目。这样做是为了在在线事实核查和电视新闻广播这两个平台上获得相同故事的样本。然后我们可以进一步确定相同政治声明是否出现在事实核查和广播中，并最终考察该声明在不同平台上的审查情况。