Fact checking audiovisual en la era de la posverdad. ¿Qué significa validar una imagen?

Introduction: This paper aims to explore the broad theoretical debate on the relationships that are established between images and the complexity of applying concepts of truth on them. A look at contemporary Fact Checking agencies shows that hoaxes and fake news more frequently use audiovisual materials to support their messages. Methodology: A review of the theoretical corpus on the relationships between image and validation/truth is made, exemplifying the limits of the dominant ideas with case analyses based on textual analysis. Results: The limits of the relationship between truth and audiovisual text were first enunciated in the phenomenological debates on realism, and subsequently nuanced -among others- by the semiotic schools, cultural studies and the current emergence of "post-digital" theories. Within the framework of such theories, a tension has been generated from the marks of verediction (pixelation, low formats, visual noise, glitch) and the disaffection of the citizenry with the images distributed by the official media. Conclusions: In a world where conventional media have less and less capacity to distribute images and influence their interpretations, it is necessary to rethink that the validation of images is a fundamental competence in the creation of the citizenship of the future. Hence, the introduction of critical audiovisual reading skills at compulsory education levels is the only way to challenge the very "referential" nature of images.