Justifying the facts: Epistemology and modes of objectivity in fact-checking practices

PhD defence by Sabina Schousboe

Assessment Committee

Associate Professor Christine Isager, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Associate Professor Whitney Phillips, University of Oregon
Professor Mats Ekström, University of Gothenburg

Supervisor

Associate Professor Mette Bengtsson

Department

Department of Communication

Place

The defence is conducted as a hybrid defence.

To attend the defence in person:
Building: 23, Room: 23.0.49
Emil Holms Kanal 4, 2300 København S

To attend the defence online:
Please follow the link to attend the defence online: https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/66354510511?pwd=ULwbplg0sJQyG66bqzObQ7aF1NuNVx.1
MeetingID, if relevant: 663 5451 0511
Password, if relevant: 075103

Email address to gain access to the thesis: sabina.schousboe@hum.ku.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

Sabina Schousboe's dissertation explores the epistemic practices of fact-checking in a Danish and European context. The dissertation advances rhetorical ethnography to document, analyze and engage with the reasoning, decision making, practices and contexts of the fact-checkers evaluation of factuality. Specifically, the dissertation examines the newsroom of the Danish fact-checking organization TjekDet through fieldwork and the credentialing process of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network from the perspective of external assessor. The dissertation highlights the ongoing negotiations between an objectivist role perception of fact-checkers, adjudicating between “true” and “false”, and fact-checkers’ attendance to the provisionality and uncertainty of factual matters.