E01¶


Research	R0051 — Fact-Checking Gap
Run	2026-03-31
Query	Q001
Source	SRC03
Evidence	SRC03-E01
Type	Analytical

Live fact-checking pushed toward confirmative epistemology due to epistemic gap between news and verification logics.

URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448231151436

Extract¶

Steensen et al. found that Faktisk.no used strategies to bridge the "epistemic gap" between breaking news and political fact-checking. These strategies "combined, pushed the live fact-checking towards a confirmative epistemology, implying that the live political fact-checking confirmed knowledge already believed to be true and hegemonic perspectives on what constitutes important and reliable information."

Specifically, live fact-checking involved "strategies to minimize complexities in claims to fact-check, a reliance on predefined credibility of sources, and a push towards confirmative epistemology."

Relevance to Hypotheses¶

Hypothesis	Relationship	Strength
H1	Contradicts	The drift toward confirmative epistemology suggests no formal corrective framework exists
H2	Supports	Demonstrates ad hoc epistemic strategies exist but are insufficient without formal structure
H3	Contradicts	Practitioners engage with epistemological challenges, even if informally

Context¶

The concept of "reliance on predefined credibility of sources" is particularly relevant — it suggests an informal source reliability assessment exists in practice but lacks formal tiering comparable to intelligence community standards.