Despite the fact that disinformation and fake news are becoming a huge concern for journalism, Italian news media are not developing processes to identify misinformation and avoid spreading fake news. Among the examined newsrooms, the most common habit is to address the problem at the level of individual journalists. Hence, non-systematic approaches seem to prevail among Italian journalists as a result of their practical experience:
Over the years we have gained so much experience that the alarm bell rings and then a more in-depth verification is carried out and this often allows us to eliminate the risk of publishing a false news story, without any particular support in terms of tools and expertise. (editor-in-chief, la Repubblica)
In Italy there is no access to specific tools. I think this could be done, but I think it costs a lot. I think it is the Italian gap that we still miss a combination of information experts and technicians able to support this type of analysis and the elaboration of journalistic content. (editor-in-chief, Il Fatto Quotidiano)
There are no standardised editorial guidelines on how to handle misinformation, and so journalists “rely on common sense” (journalist, SkyTg24). There are no specific training courses on the use of automated tools for the verification of information. Practices related to the reliability of sources are left to the discretion of the individual: “We are there to give news, verify it with sources, more than one, cross-check two or three sources, verify the news and at that point the news is considered reliable and therefore publishable. The assessment is personal and discretionary” (journalist, La Repubblica). “Having anti-fake-news algorithms in real-time is very complicated, the work must be manual” (editor-in-chief, La Repubblica).
There are two main problems highlighted by journalists in relation to misinformation: the problem of skills and experience of individual journalists and the problem of timing, because often problems related to misinformation relate to the hurry to publish a piece in the news:
There are two issues on disinformation: one is to strengthen the skills of journalists, also through the algorithmic management of the phenomenon […], but we have an enemy to fight against which is not only disinformation but also time, because the biggest mistakes, at least in the mainstream, are made on the assumption of the lack of time to do verifications and this is all the more true for all-news channels evidently. (editor-in-chief, Tg1).
Maybe we gave ourselves the rule that it is better to be second in giving the news, but to do so in an accurate and correct manner, than to be first, but presenting news that is unreliable. (editor-in-chief, La Repubblica)
Finally, there is also a problem linked to the professional culture, which functions as an element of resistance to change and which is more visible among senior journalists. “The practice of automated verification of sources through fact-checking tools or services, internal or external to the editorial staff is unusual in the Italian journalistic culture compared to foreign models. This happens mostly manually”, said an editor-in-chief of SkyTg24. A journalist from TgLa7 explained:
The truth is that there are stratifications in the editorial offices […]. There are generations formed on books, certainly, but very much on the road and very often without academic preparation […]. Then, there is a later generation, to which I belong, which is quite disenchanted, perhaps even too cynical and independent, which was formed in schools of journalism.
Fake news is approached slightly differently by Il Fatto Quotidiano. What is highlighted in this case is that distortion of the news often depends on the interpretative frame:
It is difficult, however, given the quality of Italian newspapers, that fake news ends up on paper unless you take it as it is from the Internet. [The biggest problem is] the interpretation that is given to news as fake. In this case, the disinformation concerns the curvature you give to the news. (journalist, Il Fatto Quotidiano)
Again, it is pointed out that there is often also an emphasis on the problem, especially by political actors:
On fake news, we have dealt with the subject. If I have to tell you, there was, on our part, a characteristic of the newspaper, which was to criticise the excessive emphasis of the use of fake news as an instrument of political battle. (editor-in-chief, Il Fatto Quotidiano)
It is worth mentioning that there are several actors involved in projects aimed at fighting misinformation. They are developing tools and creating and dedicating specific sections of their websites to contrast problems connected with fake news:
- Institutional observers: Agcom; Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori; Social Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis; Luiss Data Lab; Pagella Politica; T6 Ecosystems srl; Official fact-checkers, non-institutional actors, and debunking projects.
- Official fact-checkers – institutions and newsrooms: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia; Carta di Roma; Open.online; Lavoce.info.
- Non-institutional actors – blogs, television programmes, and debunking project: Bufale.net; Butac; #Fake: la fabbrica delle notizie.
- Fact-checking projects during electoral campaigns: Mapping Italian News; Fact-Check EU.
- Actors and websites fighting scientific and health-care disinformation: Medicalfacts; Dottoremaeveroche; Osservatorio Terapie Avanzate.
