Fake news verification process: A case study from The Okinawa Times during the 2018 gubernatorial election

FUJISHIRO Hiroyuki

doi:10.14836/ssi.8.2_143

<p>This study examines news production process by The Okinawa Times, a local daily in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture. As a case study, this paper looks at the daily's debunking articles published during the 2018 Okinawa gubernatorial election. It focuses on four elements related to common news values for local newspapers; localness, sources, in-house relations, and competitors, in the context of the paper's relation to online media outlets. Interviews with three journalists at The Okinawa Times revealed that the paper came to recognize online media outlet BuzzFeed Japan as its rival through coverage of fake news. This led to reviewing of the principle of fairness, which had been seen as an important norm in election coverage. The study also revealed that localness, which was an important element of news value for local newspapers, started to bear dual meanings as they competed with BuzzFoed news for which localness is not necessarily newsworthiness. Thos, competition with the online news outlet also affected the local paper's criteria for newsworthiness. I argue that there needs to be a discussion on how to sustain fair reporting during election campaigns as news organizations engage in debunking. While this study has a limitation in terms of generalizing the process of producing debunking articles due to a limited number of journalists interviewed, it revealed a new form of news production process in the age of social media.</p>

Fake news verification process: A case study from The Okinawa Times during the 2018 gubernatorial election

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