Processing information into journalistic content in contemporary news media creates a favorable environment for the distribution of misleading and fake information. This paper analyzes the distribution of alternative facts and fake news as a phenomenon characterizing post-fact society and how journalistic work processes may promote and legitimize the distribution of misleading content. The study looks into the back- and front-stage performances of journalistic information processing that are influenced by social time acceleration and the insistence of ‘click-bait’ news criteria. We used three different methods for teaching news reporting on three different groups of Estonian journalism students, and analyzed their performance using self-reflection in focus group interviews. Two groups of students, whose assignments were geared toward the outcome, focused more on front stage performances and underestimated back stage performances, e.g. the evaluation of sources, background information gathering, and fact checking. One group, which was taught news reporting as a process of information filtering, perceived and reflected both front and back stage performances. The results indicate that (online) newsroom practice, which is influenced by time pressure and the continuous requirement of new content, may force journalists to skip the stages of conventional journalistic information processing and due to that create favorable environment for publishing and distributing misleading and fake news.

中文翻译：

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替代事实和虚假新闻进入新闻内容制作周期

在当代新闻媒体中将信息处理为新闻内容会为散布误导性和虚假信息创造有利的环境。本文分析了另类事实和虚假新闻的分布，这种现象是后事实社会的特征，新闻工作者的工作过程如何促进和使误导性内容的分布合法化。该研究调查了受社交时间加速和“点击诱饵”新闻标准的坚持影响的新闻信息处理的后台和前台绩效。我们使用三种不同的方法对三个不同类别的爱沙尼亚新闻专业学生进行新闻报道教学，并在焦点小组访谈中使用自我反思来分析他们的表现。两组学生的作业是针对结果的，重点更多地放在前台演出上，而低估了后台演出，例如源的评估，背景信息收集和事实检查。一组讲授新闻报道是一种信息过滤的过程，可以感知并反映前后台的表现。结果表明，由于时间压力和对新内容的不断需求的影响，（在线）新闻编辑室的实践可能会迫使记者跳过传统的新闻信息处理阶段，从而为发布和散布误导性和伪造的良好环境创造条件。新闻。它被讲授为新闻报道，是信息过滤的过程，感知并反映了前台和后台的表现。结果表明，由于时间压力和对新内容的不断需求的影响，（在线）新闻编辑室的实践可能会迫使记者跳过传统的新闻信息处理阶段，从而为发布和散布误导性和伪造的良好环境创造条件。新闻。它被教导将新闻报道视为信息过滤的过程，感知并反映了前台和后台的表现。结果表明，由于时间压力和对新内容的不断需求的影响，（在线）新闻编辑室的实践可能会迫使记者跳过传统的新闻信息处理阶段，从而为发布和散布误导性和伪造的良好环境创造条件。新闻。