Informações embaralhadas: análise da agência de checagem Aos Fatos e do jornal Gazeta do Povo nas eleições brasileiras de 2018 e 2022

Abstract

This work, presented to the Master's Program in Journalism, in the area of concentration Journalistic Processes, line of research Journalistic Processes and Social Practices, analyzes fake news checked by the Aos Fatos portal and news from the newspaper Gazeta do Povo in two different scenarios: the 2018 and 2022 elections, to observe the influences of the disinformation environment. In Aos Fatos, changes are observed in checking strategies, topics that circulated the most and main platforms where the content circulated. At Gazeta do Povo, a journalistic analysis, especially from the observation of news sources, allowed us to identify some editorial strategies used by the newspaper. Aos Fatos was chosen due to the fact that it is one of the checking agencies operating in the country and also due to the ease of access to the archive of verified content and Gazeta do Povo due to the politically right-wing editorial convictions assumed by management of the media business group, as well as suspicions of the newspaper's involvement in the spread of misinformation. The research mobilizes concepts from the journalistic field to understand the political context of the emergence of fake news and disinformation, as well as the impact of this new ecosystem on democracies, with emphasis on the impacts in Brazil. Among the results, an increase in the checking of fake news was identified when considering samples from 2018 to 2022. Also, the main network for propagating content was Facebook. The study classifies the themes, with the most frequent in 2018 being the opposition of opponents of presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) to the church; and in 2022 there was content that questioned the credibility of the electoral system and voting intention surveys. In Gazeta do Povo, the mention of open sources and the use of information available on social networks are identified as editorial resources. On the other hand, there is a low use of human sources actually heard in the journalistic investigation process. There is also the option of frequently mentioning other information vehicles as sources. This resource was also applied to the fake pieces verified by Aos Fatos. Another point in common with fake news is the reproduction of narratives about possible weaknesses in research and the electoral system. This is research that evaluates strategies that involve and mark the processes of disinformation in contemporary societies.