從新聞組織看日常新聞查證：以台灣四大報為例

Daily News Verification as Organizational Work: A Study of Taiwan’s Four Major Newspapers

本研究深度訪談四大報共30 位記者與主管，從組織角度探析日常新聞查證慣例與實踐。本研究發現查證慣例主要起於新聞個案，浮現於組織互動。除非是重要新聞，否則報社多將查證視為記者工作與責任。報社對新聞查證的要求顯現於守門關卡多寡、核稿者是否有路線相關知識，及核稿者與記者的互動。由此來看也可見報社對紙本的查證要求高於即時新聞，尤其後者「搶快」、「爭先」透過組織激化，加上其能接受少量訊息且可不斷更新，提高容忍新聞錯誤「瑕疵」的程度。最後，本研究強調報社能發揮團體優勢，進行查證。尤其跨線查證能獲得不同路線消息來源的回應、交叉確認、分頭查證持續式新聞，甚至發現更多證據，改變原有新聞設計，提高新聞品質。

 

This study conducted in-depth interviews with 30 journalists, who work for Taiwan’s four major newspapers, to analyze the practice of daily news verification at an organizational level. The study found that news verification norms as a routine emerge during the news production process and in organizational interactions. Except for important and influential news stories, the responsibility for news verification is always regarded as the job of individual journalists rather than that of the organization. Further, the news organization’s policy requirements of news verification depend upon the number of gatekeepers, sub-editors’ domain and contextual knowledge, and the interaction between sub-editors and journalists. Based on the above, the news organizations have higher standards of news verification for print news than for online real-time news. Certain flaws in online real-time news stories, which can be short and continuously updated, are often tolerable since they have to be fast and be the first in a competitive market. Finally, the study emphasizes that news verification can be more efficiently accomplished by coordinating journalists of different specialties, interviewing each of the interested parties in different fields, and collaboratively cross-checking information for corroboration when covering the continuing news. This process may even uncover more evidence that may change the original news coverage and improve the overall news quality.