Studies in Media and Communication Vol. 11, No. 6; September 2023 ISSN: 2325-8071 E-ISSN: 2325-808X Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://smc.redfame.com 385 Examining Journalist’s Perception of Fake News and Their Attitude toward Debunking Disinformation Erlis Çela Correspondence: Erlis Çela, Department of Communication Sciences, Beder University College in Tirana, Albania. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9202-2981 Received: July 8, 2023 Accepted: August 14, 2023 Online Published: August 16, 2023 doi:10.11114/smc.v11i6.6307 URL: https://doi.org/10.11114/smc.v11i6.6307 Abstract Fake news and other forms of disinformation pose a serious threat to the news ecosystem and the informing of audiences, who are increasingly dependent on online sources of information. After the attention paid to the spreading of fake news, researchers have focused on the study of the negative effects that different typologies of disinformation are prone to having on audiences. Similarly, great attention has also been paid to the motives that users have for the spreading of fake news. These studies, which combine various disciplines, attempt to analyze the psychological factors and motives that lead users to engage with online fake news. On the other hand, several studies have analyzed the role of platforms and their algorithmic logic, as well as the main approaches for addressing this significant problem. Although much effort has been devoted to the phenomenon of disinformation in social media, the role of professional journalists in exposing false information has not been given the necessary attention. Albania is a country with a high rate of fake news and conspiracy theories. This study will investigate the Albanian journalists’ perception of fake news and the risk in them being used as a means of (dis)informing the audience. It will also focus on how this perception affects their behavior and willingness to debunk disinformation on social media. Making use of a national-level questionnaire, to which 270 journalists contributing in the Albanian media responded, the study aims to answer some important questions about the role of journalists in addressing disinformation issues in the social media space. The findings from this study indicate that although journalists in Albania perceive fake news as a danger to democracy, the media and the journalism profession, they do not seem motivated to engage in the debunking actions and exposing of fake news circulating online. Keywords: journalism, fake news, social media, debunking, disinformation, democracy 1. Introduction At a time when the tendency of audiences to get information via social media has increased progressively and in compliance with the pace of developments in the field of information technology, concerns about the authenticity and accuracy of the content remain a matter of high interest both for researchers and media professionals. The truthfulness and accuracy of information that audiences consume is directly related to opinion and decision-making, both essential elements for the functioning of democracy (Humprecht, 2019). For a significantly long period of time, the verification and accuracy of information was within the responsibilities of journalists and media professionals. However, at the present new ecosystem of news, in which the position of professional journalists in relation to the production and distribution of news is challenged by other actors, such as the common users of a given platform, the situation is even more complicated. Fake news, conspiracy theories, and other forms of falsified information pose an increasingly high risk of polluting the flow of information, especially on social media platforms. Scholars and critics in the media argue that fake news, deliberately fabricated information, and the denunciative discourse towards the media, which appears especially in the public discourse of political actors, could affect democracies in various ways, ranging from changing public opinion, to the delegitimization of traditional journalism (Vu & Saldaña, 2021). It goes without saying that professional journalists cannot ignore the issue of disinformation and fake news, as, in the times being, it is related to the nature and existence of this profession. As the use of social media among journalists has increased, turning into a professional routine, the risk of exposure to fake news that circulates on these platforms increases correspondently; the same goes for the challenge to be engaged in identifying, detecting and exposing this sort of information.