Perceptions about fake news in Portuguese higher education students: An analysis of consumption and attitudes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.may.15Keywords:
Fake news, Disinformation, Information consumption, Attitudes, Perceptions, Opinions, Young people, Students, Higher education, Portugal.Abstract
Fake news constitutes a significant part of one of the most complex problems that affect the flows of information in contemporary society: disinformation. Although this is not a recent phenomenon, the political and social consequences of the spreading of fake news on the internet have been thoroughly discussed in the last couple of years. Currently young people are the group with greater exposition to this reality due to the prevalence of communication technologies in their daily lives. On this article we review the literature on disinformation and analyse the longstanding relationship between false news and journalism, focusing on the particularities of the present situation. Using quantitative methodology, we conducted a survey to analyse the perceptions regarding fake news of 602 students (17-25 years-old) from higher education in Portugal. Our findings reveal a group that is clearly used to getting information online and has already contacted with fake news. However, different conceptions about what is fake news coexist, including erroneous ones. Hence, this study reaffirms the importance of media and information literacies, particularly the importance of raising awareness on credibility assessment, fact checking and the particularities of the information flows.
Downloads
References
Aguaded, Ignacio; Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M. (2015). "Mediamorfosis y desinformación en la infoesfera: Alfabetización mediática, digital e informacional ante los cambios de hábitos de consumo informativo". Education in the knowledge society, v. 16, n. 1, pp. 44-57. http://revistas.usal.es/index.php/eks/article/view/12701
Aguaded, Ignacio; Romero-Rodríguez, Luis (eds.) (2018). Competencias mediáticas en medios digitales emergentes. Salamanca: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones. ISBN: 978 84 17600 03 7
Allcott, Hunt; Gentzkow, Matthew (2017). "Social media and fake news in the 2016 election". Journal of economic perspectives, v. 31, n. 2, pp. 211-236. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211
Anderson, Monica; Jiang, Jingjing (2018). Teens, social media & technology 2018. Pew Research Center. http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2018/05/31102617/PI_2018.05.31_TeensTech_FINAL.pdf
Balmas, Meital (2012). "When fake news becomes real: Combined exposure to multiple news sources and political attitudes of inefficacy, alienation, and cynicism". Communication research, v. 20, n. 10, pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212453600
Benito-Ruiz, Elena (2009). "Infoxication 2.0". In: Thomas, Michael (ed.). Handbook of research on web 2.0 and second language learning. Hershey: IGI Global, pp. 60-79. ISBN: 978 1 60566 190 2
Bennett, Sue; Maton, Karl; Kervin, Lisa (2008). "The "˜digital natives´ debate: A critical review of the evidence". British journal of educational technology, v. 39, n. 5, pp. 775-786. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00793.x
Bialik, Kristen; Matsa, Katerina-Eva (2017). "Key trends in social and digital news media". Factank. News in the numbers. Pew Research Center, October 4. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/04/key-trends-in-social-and-digital-news-media
Breton, Philippe (2002). A palavra manipulada. Lisboa: Editorial Caminho. ISBN: 978 972 2114516
Castells, Manuel (2015). Redes de indignación y esperanza. Los movimientos sociales en la era de internet. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. ISBN: 978 84 20609607
Catalina-García, Beatriz; García-Jiménez, Antonio; Montes-Vozmediano, Manuel (2015). "Jóvenes y consumo de noticias a través de internet y los medios sociales". Historia y comunicación social, v. 20, n. 2, pp. 601-619. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_HICS.2015.v20.n2.51402
Chen, Xinran; Sin, Sei-Ching-Joanna; Theng, Yin-Leng; Lee, Chei-Sian (2015). "Why students share misinformation on social media: Motivation, gender, and study-level differences". The journal of academic librarianship, v. 41, pp. 583-592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2015.07.003
Chen, Yimin; Conroy, Nial J.; Rubin, Victoria L. (2015). "News in an online world: The need for an "˜automatic crap detector´". In: Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, v. 52, n. 1, pp. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2015.145052010081
Children´s Commissioner (2017). Growing up digital. A report of the growing up digital taskforce. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Growing-Up-Digital-Taskforce-Report-January-2017_0.pdf
Coombes, Barbara (2009). "Gen Y: Are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees?". Synergy, v. 7, n. 1, pp. 31-40.
Costera-Meijer, Irene (2007). "The paradox of popularity: How young people experience the news". Journalism studies, v. 8, n. 1, pp. 96-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700601056874
Del-Vicario, Michela; Bessi, Alessandro; Zollo, Fabiana; Petroni, Fabio; Scala, Antonio; Caldarelli, Guido; Stanley, H. Eugene; Quattrociocchi, Walter (2016). "The spreading of misinformation online". In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 113, n. 3, pp. 554-559. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1517441113
ERC (2016). As novas diní¢micas do consumo audiovisual em Portugal. Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicaí§í£o Social. ISBN: 978 989 20 6593 9
European Commission (2017a). Special eurobarometer 461. Designing Europe´s future: Trust in institutions, globalisation, support for the euro, opinions about free trade and solidarity. Brussels: European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/Survey/getSurveyDetail/instruments/SPECIAL/surveyKy/2173
European Commission (2017b). Standard eurobarometer 88. Media use in the European Union. Brussels: European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/Survey/getSurveyDetail/instruments/STANDARD/surveyKy/2143
European Commission (2018). A multi-dimensional approach to disinformation. Report of the Independent High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2759/739290
Flaxman, Seth; Goel, Sharad; Rao, Justin M. (2016). "Filter bubbles, echo chambers, and online news consumption". Public opinion quarterly, v. 80, n. S1, pp. 298-320. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfw006
Fuller, Jack (2010). What is happening to news: The information explosion and the crisis in journalism. Chicago: The Chicago University Press. ISBN: 978 0 226 26898 9
Galdón-López, Gabriel (2001). Desinformaí§í£o e os limites da informaí§í£o. Lisboa: Folhas & Letras. ISBN: 978 972 8800053
Gleick, James (2011). The information: A history, a theory, a flood. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN: 978 1 400096237
Guess, Andrew; Nagler, Jonathan; Tucker, Joshua (2019). "Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook". Science advances, v. 5, n. 1, eaau4586. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4586
Guess, Andrew; Nyhan, Brendan; Reifler, Jason (2018). Selective exposure to misinformation: Evidence from the consumption of fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. European Research Council. https://www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/fake-news-2016.pdf
Hargittai, Eszter; Fullerton, Lindsay; Menchen-Trevino, Ericka; Thomas, Kristin-Yates (2010). "Trust online: Young adults´ evaluation of web content". International journal of communication, v. 4, pp. 468-494. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/636
Head, Alison J.; Wihbey, John; Metaxas, P. Takis; MacMillan, Margy; Cohen, Dan (2018). How students engage with news: Five takeaways for educators, journalists, and librarians. Project information literacy, October 16. http://projectinfolit.org/news_study
Hetherington, Mark J.; Weiler, Jonathan D. (2009). Authoritarianism and polarization in American politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978 0 521711241
Hirst, Martin (ed.). News 2.0: Can journalism survive the internet?. Singapore: Allen & Unwin, pp. 108-128. ISBN: 978 1 742370576
Jenkins, Henry (2008). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. ISBN: 978 0 814742952 https://cutt.ly/jsDdSo
Jenkins, Henry; Ford, Sam; Green, Joshua (2013). Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in a networked culture. New York: New York University Press. ISBN: 978 0 814743508
Jiang, Jingjing (2018c). "Millennials stand out for their technology use, but older generations also embrace digital life". Factank. News in the numbers. Pew Research Center, May 2. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/02/millennials-stand-out-for-their-technology-use-but-older-generations-also-embrace-digital-life
Jones, Jeffrey (2007). ""˜Fake´ news versus "˜real´ news as sources of political information: The daily show and postmodern political reality". In: Riegert, Kristina (ed.). Politicotainment: Television´s take on the real. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, pp. 129-149. ISBN: 978 0 820481142
Kovach, Bill; Rosenstiel, Tom (2004). Os elementos do jornalismo. Porto: Porto Editora. ISBN: 978 972 0 45257 3
Kovach, Bill; Rosenstiel, Tom (2010). Blur: How to know what´s true in the age of information overload. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 978 1 608193011
Lewandowsky, Stephan; Gignac, Gilles E.; Oberauer, Klaus (2013). "The role of conspiracist ideation and worldviews in predicting rejection of science". Plos one, v. 10, n. 8, e0134773. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075637
Lewandowsky, Stephan; Stritzke, Werner G. K.; Freund, Alexandra M.; Oberauer, Klaus; Krueger, Joachim I. (2013). "Misinformation, disinformation, and violent conflict: From Iraq and the "˜war on terror´ to future threats to peace". American psychologist, v. 68, n. 7, pp. 487-501. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034515
Lotero-Echeverri, Gabriel; Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M.; Pérez-Rodríguez, Amor (2018). "Fact-checking vs. fake news: Periodismo de confirmación como recurso de la competencia mediática contra la desinformación". Index.comunicación, v. 8, n. 2, pp. 295-316. http://journals.sfu.ca/indexcomunicacion/index.php/indexcomunicacion/article/view/370/400
Love, Robert (2007). "Before Jon Stewart". Columbia journalism review, v. 45, n. 6, pp. 33-37. https://archives.cjr.org/feature/before_jon_stewart.php
McChesney, Robert; Nichols, John (2010). The death and life of American journalism: The media revolution that will begin the world again. Philadelphia: Nation Books. ISBN: 978 1 568586052
McGrew, Sarah; Ortega, Teresa; Breakstone, Joel; Wineburg, Sam (2017). "The challenge that´s bigger than fake news: Civic reasoning in a social media environment". American educator, v. 4, n. 3, pp. 4-9. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/ae_fall2017.pdf
Media Insight Project (2015). "How millennials get news: Inside the habits of America´s first digital generation". American Press Institute, March 16. https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/millennials-news
Media Insight Project (2017). ""˜My´ media versus "˜the´ media: Trust in news depends on which news media you mean". American Press Institute, May 24. https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/my-media-vs-the-media/single-page
Mihailidis, Paul; Viotty, Samantha (2017). "Spreadable spectacle in digital culture: Civic expression, fake news, and the role of media literacies in "˜post-fact´ society". American behavioral scientist, v. 61, n. 4, pp. 441-454. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217701217
National Literacy Trust (2017). Fake news and critical literacy: The final report of the Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy in Schools. https://literacytrust.org.uk/documents/1722/Fake_news_and_critical_literacy_-_final_report.pdf
Negroponte, Nicholas (1996). Ser digital. Lisboa: Editorial Caminho. ISBN: 978 972 2110563
Newman, Nic; Fletcher, Richard; Kalogeropoulos, Antonis; Levy, David A. L.; Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis (2017). Reuters Institute. Digital news report 2017. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Digital%20News%20Report%202017%20web_0.pdf
Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis (2016). "The many crises of Western journalism: A comparative analysis of economic crises, professional crises, and crises of confidence". In: Alexander, Jeffrey; Breese, Elizabeth-Butler; Luengo, Maria (eds.). The crisis of journalism reconsidered: Democratic culture, professional codes, digital future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 77-97. ISBN: 978 1 107448513
Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis; Graves, Lucas (2017). "˜News you don´t believe´: Audience perspectives on fake news. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report.
Otte, Max (2010). El crash de la información. Los mecanismos de la desinformación cotidiana. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta. ISBN: 978 84 34469235
Pariser, Eli (2011). The filter bubble: What the internet is hiding from you. London: Penguin Press. ISBN: 978 0 241954522
Pérez-Tornero, José-Manuel; Tayie, Sally-Samy; Tejedor, Santiago; Pulido, Cristina (2018). "¿Cómo afrontar las noticias falseadas mediante la alfabetización periodística? Estado de la cuestión". Doxa comunicación, n. 26, pp. 211-235. https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n26a10
Pérez-Tornero, José-Manuel; Varis, Tapio (2010). Media literacy and new humanism. Moskow: Unesco Institute for Information Technologies in Education. ISBN: 978 5 905175 05 3 https://iite.unesco.org/pics/publications/en/files/3214678.pdf
Pool, Keith T.; Rosenthal, Howard (1984). "The polarization of American politics". The journal of politics, v. 46, n. 4, pp. 1061-1079. https://doi.org/10.2307/2131242
Prensky, Marc (2001). "Digital natives, digital immigrants". On the horizon, v. 9, n. 5, pp. 1-6. https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Reja, Ursa; Manfreda, Katja-Lozar; Hlebec, Valentina; Vehovar, Vasja (2003). "Open-ended vs. close-ended questions in web questionnaires". Developments in applied statistics, v. 19, n. 1, pp. 159-177. https://www.stat-d.si/mz/mz19/reja.pdf
Ramonet, Ignacio (1990). "Le coupable silence des médias". In: De-Selys, Gérard (org.). Médiamensonges. Bruxelles: í‰ditions EPO, pp. 55-62.
Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M.; Casas-Moreno, Patricia; Caldeiro-Pedreira, Mari-Carmen (2018). "Desinformación e infoxicación en las cuartas pantallas". In: Aguaded, Ignacio; Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M. Competencia mediática en medios digitales emergentes. Salamanca: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones, pp. 73-92. ISBN: 978 84 17600 03 7 http://www.romero-rodriguez.com/portfolio-items/desinformacion-e-infoxicacion-en-las-cuartas-pantallas
Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M.; Torres-Toukoumidis, Ángel; Pérez-Rodríguez, M. Amor; Aguaded, Ignacio (2016). "Analfanautas y la cuarta pantalla: ausencia de infodietas y de competencias mediáticas e informaciones en jóvenes universitarios latinoamericanos". Fonseca, journal of communication, v. 12, pp. 11-25. https://doi.org/10.14201/fjc2016121125
Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M.; Valle-Razo, Ana; Torres-Toukoumidis, Ángel (2018). "Hacia una construcción conceptual de las fake news: Epistemologías y tipologías de las nuevas formas de desinformación". In: Pérez-Serrano, María-José; Alcolea-Díaz, Gema; Nogales-Bocio, Antonia I. Poder y medios en las sociedades del siglo XXI. Sevilla: Egregius, pp. 259-273. ISBN: 978 84 17270698 https://cutt.ly/whDn96
Serrano, Pascual (2009). Desinformación: cómo los medios ocultan el mundo. Barcelona: Ediciones Península. ISBN: 978 84 83078808
Shearer, Elisa (2018). "Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source". Factank. News in the numbers. Pew Research Center, December 10. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/12/10/social-media-outpaces-print-newspapers-in-the-u-s-as-a-news-source
Silverman, Craig (2015). "Lies, damn lies, and viral content. How news websites spread (and debunk) online rumors, unverified claims and misinformation". Tow Center for Digital Journalism. https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8Q81RHH
Smith, Aaron; Anderson, Monica (2018b). Social media use in 2018. Pew Research Center. http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2018/03/01105133/PI_2018.03.01_Social-Media_FINAL.pdf
Southwell, Brian G.; Thorson, Emily A.; Sheble, Laura (eds.) (2018). Misinformation and mass audiences. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN: 978 1 477314562
Sullivan, Margaret (2017). "It´s time to retire the tainted term "˜fake news´". Washington Post, January 8. https://www.washingtonpost.com
Tally, Robert (2011). "I am the mainstream media (and so can you!)". In: Amarasingam, Amarnath (ed.). The Stewart/Colbert effect. Essays on the real impacts of fake news. North Carolina: McFarland, pp. 149-163. ISBN: 978 0 786458868
Tandoc, Edson C.; Lim, Zheng-Wei; Ling, Richard (2018). "Defining "˜fake news´". Digital journalism, v. 6, n. 2, pp. 137-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Tapscott, Don (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978 0 071347983
Thornton, Brian (2000). "The Moon hoax: Debates about ethics in 1835 New York newspapers". Journal of mass media ethics, v. 15, n. 2, pp. 89-100. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327728JMME1502_3
Volkoff, Vladimir (2000). Pequena história da desinformaí§í£o. Lisboa: Editorial Notícias. ISBN: 978 972 4611556
Wardle, Claire; Derakhshan, Hossein (2017). Information disorder. Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking. Council of Europe report DGI(2017)09. https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c
Wineburg, Sam; McGrew, Sarah (2016). "Why students can´t google their way to the truth: Fact-checkers and students approach websites differently". Education week, November, 1. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/02/why-students-cant-google-their-way-to.html
Woodrow, Alain (1996). Informaí§í£o, manipulaí§í£o. Lisboa: Dom Quixote. ISBN: 978 972 2009300
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Dissemination conditions of the articles once they are published
Authors can freely disseminate their articles on websites, social networks and repositories
However, the following conditions must be respected:
- Only the editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with this copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com
- Only the final editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with that copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com
Profesional de la información journal offers the articles in open access with a Creative Commons BY license.