E01¶


Research	R0050 — Journalism and Other Truth-Seeking Disciplines
Run	2026-03-31
Query	Q003
Source	SRC01
Evidence	SRC01-E01
Type	Factual

The 2017 report frames the Information Disorder taxonomy as a conceptual framework, not a procedural tool.

URL: https://edoc.coe.int/en/media/7495-information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-research-and-policy-making.html

Extract¶

The report's full title includes "Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making" — it is explicitly positioned as a framework for thinking about the problem, not as a methodology for classifying specific content.

The framework provides three categories (misinformation, disinformation, malinformation) analyzed through three elements (agent, message, interpreter) and three phases (creation, production, distribution).

Wardle also proposed a more granular seven-type taxonomy of specific content types: satire/parody, false connection, misleading content, false context, impostor content, manipulated content, and fabricated content.

The report recommends "source-checking to trace the original source of the information" rather than category-based classification as the primary verification approach.

Relevance to Hypotheses¶

Hypothesis	Relationship	Strength
H1	Contradicts	The original report does not position the taxonomy as a procedural tool
H2	Supports	The framework was designed as conceptual, not procedural
H3	Supports	The framework was designed as a thinking tool that has achieved widespread conceptual adoption

Context¶

The report was commissioned by the Council of Europe, which shapes its orientation toward policy analysis rather than operational procedures. The authors' choice of "framework" rather than "methodology" or "protocol" is significant — it signals an intent to provide a conceptual lens rather than a procedural tool.