And That’s a Fact: A Rhetorical Perspective on the Role of Fact-Checkers

Figures & data

Table 1. Contrasting role perceptions of fact-checkers.

	Objectivist role perception (based on logic, formal reasoning)	Constitutive role perception (based on rhetorical argumentation theory)
Aim: What is the purpose of the fact-checking practice?	Creation of an informed citizenry and accountability within public debate through the correction of falsehoods	Deliberation about factual matters through scrutiny of arguments and evaluation of their weight
Practice: What are fact-checkers doing?	Evidence-based assessment and verification of facts following consistent methodologies	Analysis and evaluation of factual claims (and the support for these claims) in discursive, social, material contexts as part of building adherence to factual statements. In this, fact-checkers play an active part as arguers themselves when disseminating the fact-checks
Publication style: How do fact-checkers disseminate?	Rating claims as true or false	Weighing individual factual arguments situated in wider thematic contexts