Abstract

Fact-checking is an essential aspect of the journalistic practice, especially in highly contentious periods like presidential elections. Fact-checking cuts through the constant tension between the truth and manipulated data. A fact-checker’s job is to shed light on falsehood and provide audiences with content that can stand out amidst so much information published online. The goal of this essay is to show why fact-checking matters, and how it has shaped political discussions around Ecuador’s 2017 and 2021 presidential elections. I have also illustrated what a fact-checking exercise looks like. Fact checkers start by analyzing a piece of questionable content’s “red flags” and follow hints to reconstruct where it came from. For this exercise, I focus on a contentious photograph of Ecuadorian politicians Rafael Correa, Lenín Moreno, and Andrés Arauz that was shared on social media during the Ecuadorian 2021 presidential. My goal with this exercise is to illustrate the processes of fact-checking and provide others interested in doing such verification work tools to use and a model to follow.