Journalism, Denialism and Climate Emergency: The WT.Social Audible Information Model Option (Atena Editora)

Abstract

This article intends to present the auditable news model of WT.Social, a WikiMedia journalism initiative, as an alternative to face denialism about the climate emergency in our days, given the repeated failures of the major platforms to offer effective solutions for the circulation of misinformation. Our appreciation of the problem goes through the recognition of the phenomenon of platformization and the devaluation of wikis; the creation of a task force to confront climate denialism on Wikipedia; and the operating standards of WT.Social (WikiTribune) in relation to the production of news that circulate in its networks, especially on the climate emergency. Using a descriptive and inductive approach, we carried out an exploratory research with the case study of WT.Social. The analysis of 143 posts published on the network demonstrates that the model, although promising, is not followed by most publications on the network, since most posts adopt a pattern very close to that found in more traditional social networks, such as Facebook. The publications adopt journalism as a reference for their data and statements, giving credibility to the work of the press. This support in journalism, however, is no guarantee to avoid denialist narratives.