Cross-checking journalistic fact-checkers: The role of sampling and scaling in interpreting false and misleading statements.

Professional fact-checkers and fact-checking organizations provide a critical public service. Skeptics of modern media, however, often question the accuracy and objectivity of fact-checkers. The current study assessed agreement among two independent fact-checkers, The Washington Post and PolitiFact, regarding the false and misleading statements of then President Donald J. Trump. Differences in statement selection and deceptiveness scaling were investigated. The Washington Post checked PolitiFact fact-checks 77.4% of the time (22.6% selection disagreement). Moderate agreement was observed for deceptiveness scaling. Nearly complete agreement was observed for bottom-line attributed veracity. Additional cross-checking with other sources (Snopes, FactCheck.org), original sources, and with fact-checking for the first 100 days of President Joe Biden's administration were inconsistent with potential ideology effects. Our evidence suggests fact-checking is a difficult enterprise, there is considerable variability between fact-checkers in the raw number of statements that are checked, and finally, selection and scaling account for apparent discrepancies among fact-checkers.

Exploring media framing of abortion content on Kenyan television: a qualitative study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Media framing of abortion messages is an emerging field of research. However, little is known about how the news media frames abortion messages aimed at influencing adolescents' reproductive health choices. This study therefore seeks to investigate the framing of abortion in TV news items on three leading Kenyan TV outlets over a period of 3 years, understand Kenyan journalists' perceptions and experiences with abortion coverage, and to examine adolescents' perceptions and experiences with abortion coverage on Kenyan televised news media. METHODS: This qualitative study which will be conducted in two sites-Nairobi and Uasin Gishu counties-in Kenya will purposively sample abortion news items from three leading media outlets aired between January 2016 to December 2019, for content analysis. Additionally, 12 journalists (9 reporters, 3 news editors) will be purposively sampled for Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) on journalist framing of abortion messages. Finally, convenience sampling will be used to select approximately 48 university-going adolescents for four Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)-2 female, 2 male- aimed at examining adolescents' perceptions and experiences with abortion coverage in the broadcast news media. The KIIs and FGDs will be audio-recorded, transcribed and translated. These data will be analyzed thematically. DISCUSSION: This study moves beyond interrogating only media items to further exploring framing from the perspectives of media consumers and investigations in the process behind production of abortion messages. The study interrogates abortion messages aimed at younger demographics such as adolescents as well as the gendered differences of the effects of these abortion messages, an area barely explored. The study findings will be informative to those who wish to develop media that could be used to promote safe abortion as well as advocate for sexual reproductive health rights, especially among adolescents.

Converging crises: public interest journalism, the pandemic and public health.

Public interest journalism has faced a longstanding funding crisis, cutbacks of staff and resources, and closures of newsrooms. This crisis is a critical public health concern, and it has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the pandemic has highlighted the important roles played by public interest journalism - including in addressing health equity issues. The pandemic has also highlighted the need to address structural weaknesses in the media industry, with concentration of media ownership and underfunding of public broadcasters leading to many communities being under-served and under-represented. The public health sector can make important contributions to developing and sustaining a robust, public interest journalism sector. Public health professionals and organisations can advocate for policy reform to support public interest journalism, and incorporate consideration of public interest journalism into advocacy, education, research and practice.

Misinformation and herd behavior in media markets: A cross-national investigation of how tabloids' attention to misinformation drives broadsheets' attention to misinformation in political and business journalism.

This study develops and tests a theoretical framework, which draws on herd behavior literature and explains how and under what conditions tabloids' attention to misinformation drives broadsheets' attention to misinformation. More specifically, the study analyzes all cases of political and business misinformation in Switzerland and the U.K. between 2002 and 2018, which are selected based on corresponding Swiss and U.K. press councils' rulings (N = 114). The findings show that during amplifying events (i.e., election campaigns and economic downturns) tabloids allocate more attention to political and business misinformation, which, in turn, drives broadsheets to allocate more attention to the misinformation as well-and especially if the misinformation serves broadsheets' ideological goals. Moreover, the findings show differences between Swiss and U.K. media markets only in the case of business misinformation and suggest that the attention allocation process depends in particular on the strength of the amplifying event in a media market. Thereby, this study contributes to the understanding of how and under what conditions misinformation spreads in media markets.

Unhealthy weight control behaviors among a sample of U.S. journalists.

OBJECTIVE: Research on body image and weight control behaviors among journalists is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the experiences of unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCBs), binge eating, and appearance-related pressures among a sample of journalists in the United States (U.S.). METHOD: We administered an online survey to journalists assessing their roles in the news industry, engagement in UWCBs (e.g., vomiting, laxative use, dieting, fasting) and binge eating. Odds ratios of the outcomes were estimated using a series of multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Over 68%, 19%, and 30% of participants reported they went on a diet, fasted for weight control, and binge ate, respectively. Our results suggest on-air journalists demonstrated higher odds of dieting compared to their counterparts who do not work in front of the camera. Furthermore, some journalists reported being subjected to appearance-related pressures in the industry. DISCUSSION: Our results provide a glimpse of weight control behaviors, binge eating, and appearance-related pressures among workers in the U.S. journalism industry. Given the concerning prevalence of purging and binge eating in our sample, future studies should assess whether journalists represent an occupation group that is at high risk of developing eating disorders.

Science as a Social Good: Iramis Alonso-Porro Director, Juventud Técnica.

Science journalism was little known in Cuba when Iramis Alonso wrote her the-sis on the specialized fi eld in 1990. That year, journalism degree from the Uni-versity of Havana in hand, she set off to Cuba's eastern countryside to complete two years of social service reporting for local, regional and national print media. Living in the mountains of Holguín, a typical day for the cub reporter took her to caves, forests and fi elds for stories on the intersection of science, culture and the environment. Alonso credits this formative experience with igniting her passion for investigative and sci-ence journalism, setting her on a unique career path as a journalist and editor specializing in the sciences writ large: climate change, astronomy, mathemat-ics and other hard sciences, engineer-ing, information technologies and social sciences, among others.

Gender Differences in Sports News Coverage on Twitter.

Gender stereotypes influence boys' and girls' self-perception, with the differential treatment received by sports figures in the media being one of the main factors in the perpetuation of stereotypes about sports. The objective of this research is to analyze if the new communication channels, such as Twitter, maintain gender stereotypes when reporting sports news. For this purpose, the four most followed media in Spain were analyzed: (@ElPais_Deportes, @ABC_Deportes, @Marca and @MundoDeportivo) over a period of five months, from March to June 2016. Our sample was composed of 6544 tweets, with 96.19% about sportsmen compared to 3.81% that portrayed women. The sport with the most media coverage was football (72.11%), for men as well as for women, followed by basketball (6.63%). It is clear that despite the growing international triumphs of Spanish women athletes in recent years, the latter continue to be underrepresented in the media. Female athletes receive more media coverage according to the sport which they engage in ("gender-appropriate" sports), with the exception of football, and not in accordance with their accomplishments. Twitter remains at the service of traditional media replicating the same gender biases and even augmenting them.

Could Combat Stress Affect Journalists' News Reporting? A Psychophysiological Response.

Covering war conflicts may compromise the psychological and physical health of journalists because chronic exposure to these environments has been related to depression, memory dissociative processes, and post-traumatic stress disorder; however, acute effects have not been studied yet. Thus, a combat simulation was carried out replicating actual warfare scenarios, including personnel and equipment. Psychophysiological response, memory, and information-processing were analysed of 40 professional soldiers (21 males and 19 females) and 19 journalists (12 males and 7 females) with international experience in current conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, in relation to their experience of a combat intervention. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in metabolic, muscular, cardiovascular, and cortical and psychological anxiety response, as well as a decrease in memory accuracy directly after and 24 h and 72 h post-combat were found; these modifications were modulated by the nature of the stimulus. Journalists presented higher cognitive and memory impairment than soldiers, resulting in a press reporting of real events accuracy of only 27%.

Interactive guidelines: Public communication of data-based research in cities.

Scientific research results are traditionally published as articles in peer-reviewed conference proceedings or journals. These articles often use technical jargon, which precludes the general public from consuming the results achieved. New ways to communicate scientific results are thus necessary to transfer scientific insights to non-experts, and this work proposes the concept of interactive guidelines to fill this gap. A web tool, called Interactive Guidelines Tool, was developed as a proof-of-concept for the idea. It was used in the context of the GEO-C project to communicate research outputs in smart cities scenarios to the public. A comparative analysis between the Interactive Guidelines Tool and related tools helps to highlight the progress it enables beyond the current state of the art. Interactive Guidelines Tool is available as an open-source tool and can be customised/extended by any interested researcher, in the process of making scientific knowledge and insights more accessible and understandable to a broader public.

What Should Health Science Journalists Do in Epidemic Responses?

Journalists have long covered outbreaks of infectious disease. In the history of global health journalism-from the 1721 Boston smallpox epidemic to the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak in China and Singapore and to recent outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo-newsrooms have wielded their power both responsibly and irresponsibly. This article examines journalism practice during the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic and recommends strategies for improving epidemic reporting.