FAKE NEWS ONLINE: THE PERSPECTIVE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN PORTUGAL

Authors

Keywords:

Fake news, Disinformation, Students, Higher education, Portugal

Abstract

Modern societies are currently facing new challenges arising from the global phenomenon known as “fake news”. This article presents the results of a case study conducted in a Portuguese public higher education institution that involved communication students and whose main objective was to understand the students' perception of fake news and online misinformation. Data were collected using an online questionnaire and a focus group. The sample included 49 students who were attending the second year of the Communication course in 2018/2019 and 8 other students were selected to be part of a focus group. The results obtained showed that students are aware of the existence of fake news and of what they are and that they understand the reasons why individuals make up and share false information. The answers show that most of the manipulated news they have found come from social networks and that the participants trust the information they get from television, print publications and radio. The current research concluded that the students are well aware that fake news are a growing problem that takes different forms and state that education is the best way to prevent people from being manipulated by fake news.

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Author Biographies

Filomena Sobral, Escola Superior de Educação, CI&DEI, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Portugal

Filomena Antunes Sobral (Lisbon, 1973) has a PhD in Cinema and Audiovisual - School of Arts from the Portuguese Catholic University, completed in 2011, an M. A. in Sound and Image - School of Arts from the Portuguese Catholic University (2002) and a B. A. in Communication Sciences – Lisbon New University (1996). Associate Professor at the Communication and Art Department from the Superior School of Education (Viseu, Portugal) since 1997, action field: Arts and Communication Sciences - cinema and television. Her research takes place at the Center for Research in Science and Technology of Arts (CITAR) at School of Arts from the Portuguese Catholic University and at the Center for Studies in Education, Technology and Health (CI & DETS) from the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Published several scientific papers mostly in international peer review journals. Author of two books: How to write a screenplay (2008) and The adaptations of Eça de Queiroz’ novels to the small screen (2016). Research interests include cinema and audiovisual (literary adaptation for cinema and television). In her DeGóis curriculum the most frequent terms in the contextualization of scientific, technological and artistic-cultural production are: Adaptation, Cinema, Eça de Queiroz, Audiovisual, Literature and Television.

In 2016 won the literary prize attributed by the Eça de Queiroz Foundation.

Nídia Salomé Nina de Morais, Escola Superior de Educação, CI&DEI, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Portugal

Escola Superior de Educação, CI&DEI, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Portugal

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Published

2020-04-29

How to Cite

Sobral, F., & Nina de Morais, N. S. (2020). FAKE NEWS ONLINE: THE PERSPECTIVE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN PORTUGAL. Prisma Social Journal, (29), 172–194. Retrieved from https://revistaprismasocial.es/ps/article/view/3593

Issue

No. 29 (2020): La Cultura de las Organizaciones en la Era de la Digitalización

Section

Sección abierta

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