Fact-Checking Journalists and Change of Habits: First Findings

The article presents the results of content analysis of the agencies Lupa and Aos Fatos to investigate to what extent the confrontation between the flow of disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic and the verification procedures lead to changes in journalists’ habits, according to Charles Peirce’s proposal. Five Twitter verification posts and additional retweets, from each agency, have been selected and it has been observed whether they consider the origin of the information (robotic or human), how quality aspects of the signs may indicate different origins and impact the perceptual process , the presence of news values and commercial and political criteria, and how different signs trigger immediate objects. The predominance of interpreters has also been evaluated, as logicians trigger habit change. The analyses point out that the content does not consider the origin of misinformation and that for certainty distinctive indexical non-signs prevail. Therefore, the search for confirmation is how the closest approximation with the dynamic object occurs. The predominance of these signs can lead to logical interpreters to fix beliefs by the scientific method. The contents follow a pattern of journalistic writing and sponsorship through Silicon Valley companies, which may restrict the establishment of logical interpreters.