The influence of journalistic cultures on fact-checkers’ perceptions of their role in France, Sweden and the United States: A comparative approach

Recent research has suggested that fact-checkers understand their own missions in very different ways, crucially because they operate in a wide variety of media and political environments. Considering this argument, this article examines and compares how fact-checkers perceive their role in France, Sweden and the United States, three established western democracies that differ in their media and political systems. Theoretically, the study is guided by research on journalistic cultures. Methodologically, it employs semi-structured interviews with fact-checkers selected from the three countries. The findings reveal that French fact-checkers have a more nuanced view of their role, including debunking online falsehoods, correcting politicians’ lies and explaining complex domestic and foreign issues to the public. The priority for the Swedish fact-checkers is to provide facts and explanations to the public about salient domestic issues. In contrast, for US fact-checkers, the priority is to hold political actors accountable for their claims. While these differences in perceptions align with the journalistic cultures of the countries under study, they challenge the assumed monolithic epistemology of fact-checking and reveal the increasingly blurred boundaries between fact-checking and news journalism.