Dr. Mihaela TEODOR^

Dr. Bogdan-Alexandru TEODOR^

Abstract. Fact-checking is an old journalistic practice being brought into prominence due to the possibilities offered by the Internet, as experts say. At the same time, fact-checking is a verification and debunking service that monitors news reports and social media for (mis-) disinformation. Specialists agree also that, if we want to improve media literacy and resilience to various forms of fake news and disinformation, we have to encourage fact and source checking. Much of the information used in this research material is drawn from the fact-checking database created by Duke University’s Reporter’s Lab. In this respect, the number of fact-checkers around the world has more than tripled over the past four years, increasing from 44 to 160 since the Duke Reporters’ Lab first began counting these projects in 2014. By using the source mentioned above, we want to build the map of the European Fact-checking and Debunking Initiatives, in order to support the working hypothesis: fact-checking is the first step for countering various forms of fake news and disinformation.