Since the World Health Organization (WHO, February 2, 2020) reported that the spread of coronavirus disease has been accompanied by a “massive infodemic,” the COVID-19 outbreak has become a national and international battleground of a struggle against misinformation. Fact-checking outlets around the world have been actively counteracting false and misleading information surrounding the pandemic. In this article, we conceptualize fact checkers in terms of the “interpretative power” that journalism holds in processes of political performances (Alexander in Soc Theory 22(4): 527–573, 2004, in: The performance of politics. Obama’s victory and the struggle for democratic power. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, 2010). Drawing on virus-related fact checks from Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) database, we make two arguments. First, we argue that the new phenomenon of specialized “fact checking” might be considered as a further explicitly differentiated element of Alexander’s model of cultural performance, which fulfills a double duty: trying to contribute to further “de-fusion” (separating audiences from actors when the latter lack authenticity and credibility) on the one hand, and working to overcome it on the other. Second, we explain how new fact-checking practices have become a reflexive supplement to the news media of the civil sphere that might be able to help the civil sphere’s communicative institutions to defend truthfulness in a manner that contributes to democracy.

中文翻译：

---

真相的表现：政治家、事实核查新闻，以及应对 COVID-19 错误信息的斗争

自从世界卫生组织（WHO，2020 年 2 月 2 日）报告冠状病毒病的传播伴随着“大规模的信息流行病”以来，COVID-19 的爆发已成为与错误信息作斗争的国家和国际战场。世界各地的事实核查机构一直在积极抵制围绕这一流行病的虚假和误导性信息。在这篇文章中，我们根据新闻业在政治表演过程中所拥有的“解释力”来概念化事实核查者（Alexander in Soc Theory 22(4): 527–573, 2004, in: The performance of political. Obama's胜利和争取民主权力的斗争。牛津大学出版社，牛津/纽约，2010 年）。利用 Poynter 的国际事实检查网络 (IFCN) 数据库中与病毒相关的事实检查，我们提出了两个论点。首先，我们认为专门的“事实核查”这一新现象可能被认为是亚历山大文化表演模式中进一步明确区分的元素，它履行了双重职责：试图促进进一步的“去融合”（将观众与一方面，后者缺乏真实性和可信度），另一方面努力克服它。其次，我们解释了新的事实核查实践如何成为公民领域新闻媒体的一种反思性补充，这可能有助于公民领域的传播机构以有助于民主的方式捍卫真实性。它履行了双重职责：一方面努力促进进一步的“去融合”（当演员缺乏真实性和可信度时将观众与演员分开），另一方面努力克服它。其次，我们解释了新的事实核查实践如何成为公民领域新闻媒体的一种反思性补充，这可能有助于公民领域的传播机构以有助于民主的方式捍卫真实性。它履行了双重职责：一方面努力促进进一步的“去融合”（当演员缺乏真实性和可信度时将观众与演员分开），另一方面努力克服它。其次，我们解释了新的事实核查实践如何成为公民领域新闻媒体的一种反思性补充，这可能有助于公民领域的传播机构以有助于民主的方式捍卫真实性。