Perception of “Fake News” and Potentially Manipulative Content in Digital Media—A Generational Approach (original) (raw)

Teenagers Faced with "Fake News": Perceptions and the Evaluation of an Epistemic Risk

: Perceptions and Analysis of Digital Risks, 2021

his chapter focuses on how an objective approach to fake news is perceived by a specific segment of the population: teenagers. It first proposes a synthesis of studies on the production and dissemination processes of fake news and how it is identified and assessed by the public. The aim is to characterize fake news from a scientific point of view to better identify the informational risks it is likely to generate. The chapter then aims to uncover the perceptions held by teenagers on this informational and social phenomenon. It describes the methodology of the authors' study, based on interviews with 14 young people aged 14 to 17. Finally, the results are presented and discussed by comparing them to other studies, particularly those concerning credibility judgments. They are considered in relation to questions on Media and Information Literacy and, more particularly, through reflections on the teaching practices used to enable young people to critically evaluate information.

Understanding the Spread of Fake News: An Approach from the Perspective of Young People

Informatics

The COVID-19 pandemic and the boom of fake news cluttering the internet have revealed the power of social media today. However, young people are not yet aware of their role in the digital age, even though they are the main users of social media. As a result, the belief that older adults are responsible for information is being re-evaluated. In light of this, the present study was aimed at identifying the factors associated with the spread of fake news among young people in Medellín (Colombia). A total of 404 self-administered questionnaires were processed in a sample of people between the ages of 18 and 34 and analyzed using statistical techniques, such as exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the instantaneous sharing of fake news is linked to people’s desire to raise awareness among their inner circle, particularly when the messages shared are consistent with their perceptions and beliefs, or to the lack of time to properly verify t...

FAKE NEWS CONSUMPTION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND THE NEED FOR MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS: A REAL CHALLENGE FOR Z GENERATION

INTED Proceedings, 2020

Due to the rise of technological and communication platforms transformations, nowadays media literacy generates academic, political and social debates. There is a special concern with the younger generations, as studies document that they express particular behaviors due to the increased diffusion of digital consumption into their daily lives [1]. In the field of media literacy, news literacy becomes even more relevant today due to the rise of fake news, which is one of the biggest challenges for digital journalism today, because it endangers the truth and instigates misinformation which could have serious repercussions for society in general and for the youngest more susceptible generations, in particular. Based on these assumptions, this article comprehends and analyses of media and news consumption practices within Portuguese university students, studying in IADE-Universidade Europeia (in the academic year 2018/2019), located in Lisbon. Through the development of focus groups, we set to find the participants particular uses of social media for news access and consumption. We intend to define these audiences preference profiles, identify practices, analyse their relationship with the media and find patterns in their use of technology to access information. A literature review on the topic of news literacy and fake news is presented as an important challenge for the digital age of Journalism, especially with the proliferation of social media websites. We consider this from the point of view of media literacy, as these are key issues, and involve the creation of strategies-in formal and informal contexts-to aid younger generations into developing skills to critically interpret the news and create a reflexive consciousness of the world that goes beyond the view of the world that is proposed by the media and, particularly, digital platforms.

Fake News Reaching Young People on Social Networks: Distrust Challenging Media Literacy

Publications, 2021

Current societies are based on huge flows of information and knowledge circulating on the Internet, created not only by traditional means but by all kinds of users becoming producers, which leads to fake news and misinformation. This situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic to an unprecedented extent through social media, with special concern among young people. This study aims to provide significant data about the youngest generation in Spain (Generation Z) regarding their media and information consumption, their social network use, and their relationship with fake news, all in relation to the feeling of reliability/trust. Focusing on a convenience sample of 408 young Spanish students from Generation Z aged 18 to 22, a descriptive exploratory study is presented. Data collection was performed with an adapted questionnaire. Results show that young Spanish people use networks for information, showing a surprising lack of trust in social networks as the media they consume the most. The content they consume the most since the occurrence of COVID-19 is related to politics, entertainment, humor, and music. On the other hand, distrust of politicians, media, and journalists is evident. The conclusion is that media literacy is still more necessary than ever, but with the added challenge of mistrust: maybe it is time to rethink media literacy.

News Consuming Habits of Young Social Media Users in the Era of Fake News

2020

Over the last few decades social media and networking have become popular with the young, middle aged and elderly alike. However, it is the young who tend to be connected to social media most. They use social media for several purposes of which social networking, news dissemination as well as news consumption seem to be the leading cause. As a consequence, users are allowed to share emotions, opinions, bias and manipulative information sometimes without any control, which may lead to the phenomenon of fake news. The objective of this study is to examine news consumption, attitudes and strategies to fake news among young social media users. It is hypothesised that young social media users do not trust fully in social media, especially women. However, they have strategies to cope with fake news. It is also assumed that young social media users support the introduction of social media as a subject into the school curricula. All of our hypotheses were supported by the findings of qualit...

Countering the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Underpinnings Behind Susceptibility to Fake News: A Review of Current Literature With Special Focus on the Role of Age and Digital Literacy

2021

Fake news poses one of the greatest threats to democracy, journalism, and freedom of expression. In recent cases, fake news’ designs are to create confusion and lower trust among the general public—as seen in the 2016 United States presidential campaign and the Brexit referendum. The spread of information without formal verification increased since the introduction of social media and online news channels. After the popularization of fake news, researchers have tried to evaluate and understand the effects of false information from multiple different perspectives. However, it is evident that to tackle the problem of fake news, interdisciplinary collaboration is needed. This article evaluates the main findings of recent literature from an integrated psychological, linguistic, cognitive, and societal perspective, with a particular focus on digital and age-related aspects of fake news. From a psychosociological standpoint, the article provides a synthesized profile of the fake news beli...

A Generational Approach to Fight Fake News: In Search of Effective Media Literacy Training and Interventions

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2022

The rise of Internet and the pervasiveness of communication and information technologies have allowed many societies to successfully reduce inequalities in access to information. However, the spread of fake news endangers the value and trustworthiness of the information being accessed. Although the dominant approach to reduce the spread of fake news includes legal measures and technological innovations (e.g., automatic fact-checking applications), Media Literacy Training and Interventions are also ways to empower people to fight fake news. The present scoping literature review examines the Media Literacy Training and Intervention options available, offering an overview of the extent to which they include an explicit fake news component, whether they are evidence based and the social groups (including different generations) for which they were tailored. We found that students and educators were the main target groups, almost wholly to the exclusion of other groups; that they took place mainly in educational settings; and that, at least in the case of the training sessions, they were not evidence based, which meant that neither the long-term nor short-term efficacy could be tested. Such findings shed light on the relatively poor reliability of the available training and interventions, and on their limited effectiveness in the target groups.

Adolescents’ Vulnerability to Fake News and to Racial Hoaxes: A Qualitative Analysis on Italian Sample

Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 2022

Following the Digital Revolution, we are witnessing an increase in the number of manipulated sources of information. For this reason, virtual environments can be a breeding ground for the proliferation of prejudices and stereotypes, resulting from the spread of racial fallacious news, known as ‘racial hoaxes’. Adolescents may be more susceptible due to the tense and complicated relationship between their experience with digital platforms and the development of their relatively limited critical thinking. In this landscape, in order to explore the features of disinformation in adolescence, the research involved 41 Italian adolescents between 13 and 16 years old, balanced by gender and school education. The teenagers took part in the focus group discussions on the topic of online information preferences, fake news and racial hoaxes, which were analyzed by means of content analysis. The answers given by participants show a so-called adolescents’ perception of ‘misinformation invulnerabi...

Journalism Students and Information Consumption in the Era of Fake News

Media and Communication, 2021

Technological platforms, such as social media, are disrupting traditional journalism, as a result the access to high-quality information by citizens is facing important challenges, among which, disinformation and the spread of fake news are the most relevant one. This study approaches how journalism students perceive and assess this phenomenon. The descriptive and exploratory research is based on a hybrid methodology: Two matrix surveys of students and a focus group of professors (n = 6), experts in Multimedia Journalism. The first survey (n = 252), focused on students’ perception of fake news, the second (n = 300) aims at finding out the type of content they had received during the recent confinement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Results show that most of the students prefer online media as a primary source of information instead of social media. Students consider that politics is the main topic of fake news, which, according to the respondents, are mainly distributed by adult u...