IDENTIFICATION OF FAKE NEWS PUBLISHED IN THE PAPER EDITION OF A PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPER IN THE ERA OF TRUMP'S DIGITAL DISINFORMATION AND THE START OF COVID. FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL

Abstract

Fake news has become a problem in the general information society and owes its preeminence, to a large extent, to the democratisation of social networks and the polarisation of different kinds of forces. But beyond the digital channels, there is a public, in this case of a local-provincial nature, which follows the news as it has traditionally done: mainly through its newspaper of reference, in print. This paper analyses, quantitatively and qualitatively, the contents related to fake news appearing in the printed version of Diario Informacion, between 3 February 2020, the start of the US election campaign and the appearance of the first case of coronavirus in Spain, two clear events that lead directly to fake news in origin or destination, until 21 January 2021, the latter day following the start of the Joe Biden era. The aim is to try to find out whether the acerbic debate and the prominence of fake news in digital channels have a proportional transfer to the pages of this newspaper and whether they are priority issues for the reader. The study makes it clear that, compared to the bombardment and noise surrounding fake news in social media, in the print press there is a predominance of calm reflection, analysis of the problem and a clear and endorsed denunciation of this type of message. And what is more important: it is almost no news for the paper.