Convergent Epistemic Practices in Visual Fact-Checking

The increasing centrality of eyewitness images in news coverage has necessitated the development of advanced visual fact-checking practices, frequently devised by actors outside traditional journalism. This article presents a model of the transfer of such external knowledge practices into journalism, relying on a framework that combines concepts from sociologist Karin Knorr Cetina with economist Roger Koppl’s model of epistemic systems. Drawing on 13 in-depth interviews and participant observation of Faktisk Verifiserbar, a collaborative visual fact-checking unit established by Norwegian news organisations in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the article demonstrates that adopting external epistemic practices facilitated the introduction of what is here termed “substantiated verification” in Norwegian journalism. Substantiated verification offers a nuanced assessment of visual material that transcends journalism’s prevalent true/false paradigm. While integrating external epistemic practices enhances journalistic rigour by leveraging outside knowledge, it also represents a potential challenge to journalism’s authority and autonomy. The article contributes to the understanding of visual media in the field of fact-checking, as well as to that of the relationship between journalism, the intelligence community, and hybrid investigative actors engaged in open-source intelligence.