Dr. Regina Cazzamatta

• August 2022 – Juli 2025 |Leitung des DFG-Projekts „Desinformationskontext und das Entstehen von Fact-Checking-Organisationen in Europa und Lateinamerika“.
• Juli 2021 – Juli 2022 |Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Universität Erfurt  (Seminar für Medien und Kommunikationswissenschaft)
• Mai 2020 - Juli 2021 |Inititialisierungsstipendium für Nachwuchswissenschaftler der Universität Erfurt zum Forschungsprojekt ‚Fake News and Fact Checkers in Europe and Latin America‘ am Seminar für Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
• März 2020 | Promotion zum Thema: „Die Struktur und Entstehungsbedingungen der Lateinamerika-Berichterstattung in der deutschen Presse“
• SoSe 2019 - SoSe 2021 | Lehrbeauftragte im Studiengang Global Communication: Politics and Society an der Professur für Kommunikationswissenschaft mit dem Schwerpunkt Vergleichende Analyse von Mediensystemen und Kommunikationskulturen (Prof. Dr. Kai Hafez)
• 2016 - 2017 | 24-wöchiger Forschungsaufenthalt als Gastdoktorandin am Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien (Lateinamerika-Ilas), GIGA-Hamburg — September 2016–März 2017
• 01/2014 - 04/2014 | Praktika im Journalismus bei der Deutschen Welle, portugiesische  Redaktion für Afrika (Radio und Online) und brasilianische Redaktion (Online)
• 10/2011 - 02/2114 | Masterprogramm  Kommunikationsforschung an der Universität Erfurt,  Thema der Masterarbeit: „Brasilienberichterstattung in der deutschen Presse“
• 2007 - 2011 | Spezialisierungsprogramm internationaler Journalismus - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP)
• 2002 - 2006 | Bachelor in Kommunikationswissenschaft mit Schwerpunkt Journalistik
• 2002 - 2008 | Praktika und berufliche Erfahrung im Bereich Journalismus und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit in São Paulo

• 2021 und 2022: Co-Koordinierung des Eignungsfeststellungsverfahrens (EFV) des Masterstudiengangs Globale Kommunikation: Politik und Gesellschaft
• 2022: Koordinatorin des “Summer Program in Communications Erfurt“ (SPICE) in Kooperation mit der Texas-Tech University (TTU), der University of Texas at Austin und der University of Oklahoma
• Co-Koordinierung des DAAD-Projekts – Förderung ausländischer Gastdozenten zu Lehrtätigkeiten an deutschen Hochschulen ab Sommersemester 2023 Projekt: „Medien und Transformation in Europa und Südostasien (mit Prof. Kai Hafez und Dr. Anne Grüne)

• Co-Organisation der Vorkonferenz im Rahmen der 73rd annual ICA: The Global Fact-Checking Movement: Regional, Comparative, Organizational, and Institutional Perspectives, Toronto, Canada, 25.05.23 (mit Prof. Dr. Lucas Graves and Dr. Laurens Lauer). Chairs: Laurens Lauer, U Duisburg-Essen; Lucas Graves, UW-Wisconsin; Regina Cazzamatta, U Erfurt.

• Auslandsberichterstattung, Lateinamerika-Image, globale Kommunikation, Journalismus, Fact-Checking und Desinformation, vergleichende Mediensysteme  
• Methoden: Quantitative und qualitative Methoden der Kommunikationswissenschaft, Methodologie vergleichender Kommunikationsforschung

Disinformation Environments and the Emergence of Fact-Checking  Organisations in Europe and Latin America

Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)/ eigene Stelle von August 2022 bis Juli 2025.

Fact-Checking organisations provide the most relevant non-governmental reactions to the increasing amount of disinformation around the globe and they have become one of the most popular innovations to tackle this problem (Saurwein & Spencer-Smith, 2020). For democracy to prosper, a society must have the instruments to remedy political misperceptions among its citizens, and fact-checking is one of them (Garrett et al. 2013). Fact-checkers’ primary function is not only to debunk online alternative facts but also to verify claims made by political actors (Saurwein & Spencer-Smith, 2020). Fact-checking units are flourishing among the websites of several media sectors: global news agencies (AFP and Reuters Fact Check, DPA-Faktencheck or Efe Verifica), broadcasting (ARD-Faktenfinder or BBC Reality Check), newspapers (Fact Checks -The New York Times) and even independent NGO-based organisations (Correctiv, Full Fact or Maldita). This tendency has indeed spread around the world, and nowadays, 236 fact-checking websites are active in the five continents (Duke Reporters’ Lab, 2020).

Although online disinformation is a global development, fact-checkers are formed by national environments (Graves & Cherubini, 2016). They are intertwined with the media systems they operate in. Hence, to fully comprehend this phenomenon, it is crucial to conduct a comparative analysis of its mechanisms and to investigate how fact-checkers debunk disinformation. Oriented by micro, meso and macro structures, this project – funded by the DFG from August 2022 – focuses on how disparities in the media and political systems impact not only on the disinformation landscape but also on the work of fact-checkers (debunking articles, performance, professional practices, and challenges). Thus; the main research question reads: how do online disinformation and the programme of fact-checking organisations vary according to different media systems in Europe and Latin America? The results of the US-presidential election and the UK Brexit referendum in 2016 demonstrated the consequences of “[a] post-truth political culture of public debate” (Hafez, 2017, p. 6) and of a public sphere dominated by irrational discussions (Hafez, 2019). Similar developments were also observed in Latin America, a region marked by weak penetration of public service broadcasting and high use of social media as a source of news (Reuters Institute, 2020). The election of the far-right populist candidate Jair Bolsonaro 2018 (Cazzamatta, 2020f; Saucedo Añez & Cazzamatta, 2020) equally prompted concerns about the effects of disinformation in the region. The Brazilian police investigated a ‘fake news’ network, the so-called digital militia, that might be linked to the president’s son.

Despite a few exploratory studies on the fact-checking phenomenon in Europe and despite the fact that an abundant amount in the US has already been published, there is a lack of comparison integrating non-Western nations, such as the Latin American new democracies. Euro-American comparisons are important, but they exclude a large portion of the world (Badr et al., 2020). Thus, this project is based on a “most different system design” (Rössler, 2011), in the sense that this comprises eight countries amidst Europe and Latin America with different forms of political systems and democratic levels. The research combines a quantitative content analysis of 4,400 debunking articles with 22 qualitative expert interviews. In addition, the project will provide a new theoretical approach to the analysis of fact-checking units grounded on concepts of the public sphere, discourse and system theory. Within Europe, Germany, the UK, Spain and Portugal were incorporated when considering the three types of media systems (Hallin & Mancini, 2004). In Latin America, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela were selected due to their contrasting media and political indicators.

• Mitgliedschaften: DGPuK, DGPuK-Fachgruppe Internationale und Interkulturelle Kommunikation, ICA, IAMCR, ECREA

• Begutachtungstätigkeit für “Journalism Practice” (Taylor & Francis), „Intercom“ (Revista Brasileira de Ciências da Comunicação), “Matrizes” (USP-SP), “Revista de la Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación”, “Newspaper Research Journal” (SAGE); “International Journal of Communication” (Annenberg) und Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, Media and Communication (Cogitatio Press); Journal of Latin American Geography (University of Texas Press); DGPuK 2024-Erfurt; International Journal of Communication (Annenberg), New Media and Society (SAGE), Publizistik (Springer); Emerging Media (SAGE); Journal of Intercultural Communication Research (Taylor & Francis)

• Co-Sprecherin/ Zweite Sprecherin der Fachgruppe Internationale und Interkulturelle Kommunikation/ (mit Dr. Anne Grüne)

• Accepted manuscript, to be published in: Regina, C. (2025). Foreign Reporting. In A. Nai, M. Grömping, & D. Wirz (Eds.), Elgar. Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

• Cazzamatta, R., & Hafez, K. (2021). Mediated Populism: The US-Image under Trump in German Media. In Y. R. Kamalipour (Ed.), Global Perceptions of the United States and Trump. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. Link
• Cazzamatta, R. (2020). Lateinamerikaberichterstattung der deutschen Presse: Struktur und Entstehungsbedingungen Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Link
• Cazzamatta, R. (2014). Brasilien-Berichterstattung in der deutschen Presse. Berlin: Frank & Timme. (IBS 978-3-7329-0069-5)

• Cazzamatta, R. (2024). “Global Misinformation Trends: Commonalities and Differences of Topics, Sources of Falsehoods and Deception Strategies across Eight Countries.” New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241268896

• Cazzamatta, R. (2024b). The Content Homogenization of Fact-checking through Platform Partnerships – A Comparison between Eight countries. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990241261725

• Cazzamatta, R., Santos, A., & Albuquerque, G. (2024). “Unveiling Disinformation: Mapping attacks on Brazil’s Electoral System and the Response of the Superior Electoral Court (2018-2023).” International Journal of Communication, 18. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/23008/4698

• Santos, A., & Cazzamatta, R. (2024). Who Shapes Mediated Conversations Among Rising Global Powers? Examining News Geography, Authorship, and Media Sources Within the BRICS Framework. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 19401612241269835. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241269835

• Cazzamatta, R., & Santos, A. (2023). Checking verifications during the 2022 Brazilian run-off election: How fact-checking organizations exposed falsehoods and contributed to the accuracy of the public debate. Journalism, 0(0) https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849231196080

• Cazzamatta, R., & Santos, A. (2023). Democratically Elected Caudillo”: Western Media Coverage on Venezuela and the Era Chávez- Insights from Germany. Journalism Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2023.2232770 

• Cazzamatta, R. (2022). How can journalism studies benefit from a systems theoretical approach? Luhmann’s systems theory applied to journalism. Galáxia. Revista Do Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados Em Comunicação e Semiótica - PUC-SP, 47, 1–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-25532022574652

• Cazzamatta, R. (2022b). The role of wire services in the new millennium: An examination of the foreign-reporting about Latin America in the German press. Journalism, 23(5), 1044–1063. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920944745

• Cazzamatta, R. (2022c). Crises as catalysts of foreign reporting on Latin America: An evaluation of the German press over 15 years. Media, War & Conflict, 15(3), 315–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635220945737

• Cazzamatta, R. (2021). The role of the ‘negativity’ factor in international news coverage: A case study of Latin America in the German press, 2000–2014. Global Media and Communication, 17(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766520946465

• Cazzamatta, R., & Garcia, L. E. (2021). The Impact of the ‘War on Drugs’ on the Mexican Media Image. The Journal of International Communication, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2021.1975796.

• Cazzamatta, R. (2021). The Significance of Cultural Aspects in Latin America’s Media Image: The Representation of the Continent in the German Press”. Journal of Latin American Communication Research, 8 (1-2): Global Latin America in Times of COVID-19 and Hypermediations 

• Cazzamatta, R. (2020). Four Facets of Latin America: A Study of the German Press Coverage from 2000 to 2014. Studies in Communications Sciences, 20(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2020.01.002

• Cazzamatta, R. (2020). Reporting Latin America in Germany: Indicators of Ethnocentrism Expressed in News Values. Comunicación y Sociedad, (0), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v2020.7688

• Cazzamatta, R. (2020). Trends in the International News Coverage on Latin America in Germany in the 21st Century. Galáxia (São Paulo), 44, 66-82.
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-25532020245236

• Cazzamatta, R. (2020). The Brazilian Image in the German Press before the Political-Economic Turmoil. Intercom, Rev. Bras. Ciênc. Comun., 43(3), 115-133. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-5844202036

• Cazzamatta, R. (2020). Personification and Prominence in Foreign Reporting on the Example of Latin America’s News Coverage in the German Press. Brazilian Journalism Research 16, 46–77. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v16n1.2020.1247

• Añez, P. C., & Cazzamatta, R. (2020). La Representación de Brasil en la Prensa Alemana, el Cambio de Imagen en la Era de Bolsonaro y el Papel de los Medios en la Ascensión del Populismo de Derecha en todo el Mundo. Revista de Estudios Brasileños, 6(13), 201. http://dx.doi.org/10.14201/reb2019613201212

• Cazzamatta, R. (2018). The Determinants of Latin America’s News Coverage in the German Press. The Journal of International Communication, 24 (2), 283-304. https://doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2018.1492433

• Cazzamatta, R. (2016). Sobre o Papel das Agências de Relações Públicas durante Guerras e Conflitos Internacionais. Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia, 14(1), 25-38. https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-6924.2017v14n1p25

• Cazzamatta, R. (2015). Uma Análise Comparada dos Códigos de Ética Jornalística nos Países da América do Sul. Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia, 12(1), 186-201. https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-6924.2015v12n1p186

• Cazzamatta, R. (2014). A Imagem do Brasil na Imprensa Alemã—Um Estudo Empírico sobre os Fatores de Seleção da Notícia e da Estrutura do Noticiário. Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia, 11(2), 540-554. doi.org/10.5007/1984-6924.2014v11n2p540

• Santos, A., & Cazzamatta, R. (2021). Review: Media Cultures in Latin America. Key Concepts and New Debates. Global Media Journal (German Edition), 11(1). http://globalmediajournal.de/en/2021/07/14/rezension-media-cultures-in-latin-america-key-concepts-and-new-debates/

• October/December 2024. Special issue - “Fact-Checkers Around the World: Regional, Comparative, and Institutional Perspectives”. Media and Communication by Cogitatio (volume 12-2024), with Prof. Lucas Graves and Dr. Laurens Lauer.

• 03rd of July 2024. “Transnational Trends in Misinformation: A Comparative Analysis Across Eight Countries”. Panel “Landscape of International Politics, Media and News International”. International Communication Section. International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). Christchurch, New Zealand.
• 03rd of July 2024. “Unveiling the Challenges and the Future Direction of AI-Supported Fact-Checking in Journalism Across Selected Countries: Navigating Monitoring and Verification Processes.” (with Dr. Aynur Sarisakaloglu). Panel “Journalism in the Digital Age II”. Journalism Research & Education Section. International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). Christchurch, New Zealand.
• 29^th of June 2024. “Global Misinformation Trends: Patterns of Topics, Deception Strategies, Targets, and Scope of Falsehoods Across Eight Countries.” Panel “Connections, Discourses, and Visibilities. Global Communication and Social Change Division. 74th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Gold Coast, Australia,
• 14^th of March 2024. Fact-checking for a better life? How fact-checkers are redefining notions of objectivity. Panel Production and Quality of Journalistic Content. German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies Conference (DGPuK 2024). University of Erfurt
• 27^th of February 2024. “Global perspectives of disinformation and fact-checking editorial decisions in eight countries”. Panel “Characterising Disinformation: Trends, Topics and Narratives”. European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) Scientific Conference 2024. University of Amsterdam.
• 14^th of December 2023. Roundtable organized by the German Journalists’ Association (DJV) and the Deutsche Welle regarding the role of fact-checking in journalism, particularly in the context of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russian war on Ukraine (online).
• 17^th of November 2023, Berlin. “Fact-checkers: how to conceptualize these new actors in the public communication mode”. Annual Conference 2023 of the International and Intercultural Communication Division of the DGPuK in cooperation with the DFG Network Cosmopolitan Communication Studies. “Out of the Comfort Zone: Challenges of Communication Studies in the Age of New Global Realities”.
• 2^nd of November, 2023, Erfurt. Invited panelist – “Transatlantic Dialogue Division and Polarization - a Global Phenomenon” organized by Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the US Consulate General Leipzig and Willy Brandt School of Public Policy.
•  “Fact-Checking political claims and online disinformation in the 2022 Brazilian run-off election: an avalanche of anonymous sources and attacks on the democratic electoral system”. 08. Juli 2023, Lyon, im Rahmen der IAMCR Pre-Konferenz “Political Discourse on Global Digital Media: Are we Heading in the Right Direction?”“The fact-checking movement in Europe and Latin America - a global reaction to disinformation disorder and disrupted public spheres”. 30 März 2023, Institut für Bildungswissenschaft, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg. Keynote Vortrag der Frühjahrstagung Sektion Medienpädagogik.
• “Fact-checkers as Gatebouncers in the Digital Public Sphere: A Comparison between Europe and Latin America”. 10. März 2023, Dortmund, Technische Universität Dortmund, Erich‐Brost‐Institut Deutschland.
• “Disinformation Environments and the Emergence of Fact-Checking Organisations - a theoretical framework”. 23. February 2023, Stellenbosch, Department of Journalism, South Africa
• “The Elections in Germany, its Internal Injunctions and the Prospection of Scenarios for the European Union”. Vortrag im Rahmen der internationalen Debatten der Unesp-Universität. 07. Oktober 2021, Brasilien, Franca-SP.
• “Mediated Populism. The US Image in German Media”. Vortrag im Rahmen der Generalkonferenz des Europäischen Konsortiums für politische Forschung (ECPR). Panel: Medienwirkungen von Framing, Branding und Agenda-Setting auf die öffentliche Meinung. 01. September 2021, Österreich, Innsbruck,.
• “Post-Bolsonarist Foreign Policy. Changing Brazil's Image Abroad: Political and Economic Impacts”. Vortrag im Rahmen der Zyklen der Debatten der Universität PUC. 07. Mai. 2021. Brasilien, Rio de Janeiro.  
• Das Lateinamerika-Image der deutschen Presse. Vortrag im Rahmen der langen Nacht der Wissenschaft. 03. November 2017, Deutschland, Erfurt.
• “The image of Latin America in the German Media”. Vortrag im Rahmen der International Association for Media and Communication Research Conference (IAMCR). International Communication Panel. 18. Juli 2017, Colombia, Cartagena.
• “Determinants of the Latin American Coverage in the German Press”. Vortrag im Rahmen des GIGA-Doktorandenkolloquiums (Global Institute for Global and Area Studies). 15. Januar 2017, Deutschland, Hamburg.

• Auslandsberichterstattung
• Vergleichende Mediensysteme mit Schwerpunkt Lateinamerika
• Media-Images und Journalismus
• Desinformation und Fact-Checking
• Quantitative und qualitative Methoden
• Journalism Practices in the Global South

• Latin American Media Systems in Regional and International Comparative Perspective
• Applied Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Content Analysis of Media Discourses in Global Comparison
• The Media Image of Latin America in International Comparative Perspective
• Applied Methods – Fake News Environment and Fact-Checking in Global Comparison
• Latin American Media Images and International Media Reporting
• Media Change in the Age of Digital Communication
• Media Landscapes and Journalism Practices in the Global South – Examples from Latin America, Africa and Asia.
• Applied Methods: defining what’s truth – fact-checking journalism in global comparison