The debate about misinformation and fake news has been a big part of the public conversation in Denmark since 2016, and several leading news outlets (Politiken, Berlingske, DR) have regularly focused on the issue of “junk news” in media coverage. However, studies show that Danish media users come across very little misinformation and fake news in traditional news media (Schrøder et al., 2019). Studies of the 2019 national elections found very little evidence for the dissemination of misinformation on social media platforms (Guldbrandsen & Just, 2020; Derczynski et al., 2019).
Independent fact-checking is only done on a regular basis by the television programme Detektor on DR 2 and by the online news site Mandag Morgen, which has a sub-site, TjekDet, dedicated to fact checking. Interviewees state that controlling the validity of information is the core task of journalism, and this also goes for information on social media. A few of the interviewed media houses suggested that they have been trying more technical ways of verifying information, either themselves or via a third party.
