Fake news and its impact on trust in the news. Using the Portuguese case to establish lines of differentiation
Tiago Lima-Quintanilha
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Marisa Torres-da-Silva
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Tiago Lapa
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Published:
Apr 1, 2019
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Authors
Tiago Lima-Quintanilha
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Marisa Torres-da-Silva
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Tiago Lapa
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Abstract
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While a far from recent phenomenon, fake news has acquired a very special significance in the wake of the latest US elections. Against a broad background of different definitions and subtypes that require us to find a new, broader definition of the concept of fake news, the main debate about it concerns its scope and reach, which vary primarily in terms of intentionality and exactly how it disrupts the information process. With the discussion also focusing on the threats to (McChesney, 2014; Fisher, 2018) and opportunities for (Beckett, 2017) journalism itself, we seek to expand the debate on fake news to its impact on the dimension of trust in news. The starting point is Fletcher and Nielsen’s (2017) idea that, because they don’t make a clear distinction between real and fake news, Internet users feel a generalised sense of distrust in the media. Using data from the latest (2018) Reuters Digital News Report survey of a representative sample of the Portuguese Internet-using population, we describe the main reasons why the Portuguese (increasingly familiar with fake news and disinformation and their impacts) have been displaying higher levels of trust in news than counterparts in other countries, such as the United States –reasons that are linked to Portugal’s media system and historical context.
Keywords
Fake news, Trust in news, Impact of fake news on trust in news, Lines of differentiation, Portugal, Portuguese media system
References
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Lewicki, R. J. & Mcallister, D. (1998). Trust and distrust: new relationships and realities. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 438-458.
McChesney, R. (2014). Blowing the Roof off the Twenty-First Century. New York: Monthly Review Press.
McQuail, D., Blumler, J. G. & Brown, J. R. (1972). The television audience: A revised perspective. In D. McQuail (Ed.), Sociology of Mass Communication (pp. 135-165). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Mellinger, G. L. (1956). Interpersonal trust as a factor in communication. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 52(3), 304-309.
Mellado, C. (2014). Professional roles in news content: Six dimensions of journalistic role performance. Journalism Studies, 16(4), 596-614. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.922276
Peruško, Z., Cuvalo, A., & Vozab, D. (2017). Mediatization of journalism: influence of the media system and media organization on journalistic practices in European digital mediascapes. Journalism, online first, 1-25. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1464884917743176
Picard, R. G. (2015). Journalists’ Perceptions of the Future of Journalistic Work. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Rodrigues, M. L. (2012). Profissões: Lições e ensaios. Lisbon: Almedina.
Rubin, V. L., Chen, Y. & Conroy, N. J. (2016). Deception Detection for News: Three types of Fakes. ASSIST, 52(1), 1-4. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2015.145052010083
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Sayej, N. (2018, August 27). Fake news: an exhibition on the importance of accurate journalism. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/27/history-of-fake-news-journalism-exhibition-boone-county
Schranz, M., Schneider, J. & Eisenegger, M. (2018). Media Trust and Media Use. In K. Otto & A. Köhler. (Eds.), Trust in Media and Journalism (pp. 73-91). Berlin: Springer.
Schudson, M. & Zelizer, B. (2017). Fake News in context. In AA.VV., Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem (pp. 1-4). Pennsylvania: Annenberg School for Communication.
Shoemaker, P. J. & Vos, T. P. (2009). Gatekeeping Theory. New York: Routledge.
Shoemaker, P. J. & Reese, S. D. (2013). Mediating the Message in the 21st Century. A Media Sociology Perspective. New York: Routledge.
Silva, M. T., Figueiras, R., Brites, M. J., Amaral, I., Marôpo, L., Santos, S. C., Jerónimo, P., Espírito Santo, P. & Pacheco, L. (2017a). Audiências e cross-media: estudo de padrões de consumo de notícias em Portugal. Estudos em Comunicação, 25(1), 177-199.
Silva, M. T., Brites, M. J., Figueiras, R., Santos, S. C., Amaral, I., Marôpo, L., Jerónimo, P., Espírito Santo, P. & Pacheco, L. (2017b). Between traditional and social media: News repertoires in Portugal. Participations. Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 14(2), 283-300.
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Singer, J. B. (2008). The journalist in the Network. A Shifting Rationale for the Gatekeeping Role and the Objectivity Norm. Tripodos, 23, 61-76.
Tandoc, E. C., Lim, Z. W. & Ling, R. (2017). Defining Fake News: A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 137-153. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Watts, D. J. & Rothschild, D. M. (2017). The minority report on the fake news crisis: (spoiler alert: it’s the real news). In AA.VV., Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem (pp. 23-37). Pennsylvania: Annenberg School for Communication.
Zaryan, S. (2017). Truth and Trust: How audiences are making sense of Fake News. Lund: Lund University.
Allcott, H. (2017). Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-236.
Andrejevic, M. (2013). Infoglut: How Too Much Information Is Changing the Way We Think and Know. New York: Routledge.
Beckett, C. (2008). Super Media – Saving Journalism so it can save the world. New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing.
Beckett, C. (2010). The Value of Networked Journalism. Polis Journalism and Society. London: London School of Economics and Political Science.
Beckett, C. (2017). ‘Fake News’: The best thing that’s happened to Journalism. London: London School of Economics and Political Science.
Benson, R. (2008). Journalism: Normative Theories. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), Blackwell International Encyclopedia of Communication (pp. 2591-2597). New Jersey: WileyBlackwell.
Borden, S. L. & Tew, C. (2007). The role of journalist and the performance of journalism: ethical lessons from “fake” news (seriously). Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 22(4), 300- 314. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/08900520701583586
Brüggemann, M., Engesser, S., Büchel, F., Humprecht, E. & Castro, L. (2014). Hallin and Mancini Revisited: Four Empirical Types of Western Media Systems. Journal of Communication, 64(6), 1037-1065. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12127
Büchel, F., Humprecht, E., Castro-Herrero, L., Engesser, S. & Brüggemann, M. (2016). Building Empirical Typologies with QCA. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 21(2), 209-232. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1940161215626567
Carchiolo, V., Longheu, A., Malgeri, M., Mangioni, G. & Previti, M. (2018). A trust-based news spreading model. In S. Cornelius, K. Coronges, B. Gonçalves, B. Sinatra & A. Vespignani, (Eds.), Complex Networks IX (pp. 303-310). Berlin: Springer.
Champy, F. (2011). Nouvelle Théorie Sociologique des Professions. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Coleman, S. (2012). Believing the news: From sinking trust to atrophied efficacy. European Journal of Communication, 27(1), 35-45. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0267323112438806
Derakhshan, H. & Wardle, C. (2017). Information Disorder: Definitions. In AA.VV., Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem (pp. 5-12). Pennsylvania: Annenberg School for Communication.
ERC (2015). Públicos e consumos de media: O consumo de notícias e as plataformas digitais em Portugal e em mais dez países. Lisboa: Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social. Retrieved from www.erc.pt/pt/estudos-e-publicacoes/consumos-de-media/estudopublicos-e-consumos-de-media
Fisher, C. (2018). What is meant by ‘trust’ in news media? In K. Otto & A. Köhler (Eds.), Trust in Media and Journalism (pp. 19-38). Berlin: Springer.
Fisher, C. (2016). The trouble with ‘trust’ in news media. Communication Research and Practice, 2(4), 541-465. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2016.1261251
Fletcher, R. & Nielsen, R. K. (2017). People don´t trust news media – and this is key to the global misinformation debate. In AA.VV., Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem (pp. 13-17). Pennsylvania: Annenberg School for Communication.
Freidson, E. (2001). Professionalism, the third logic. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hallin, D. & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hallin, D. & Mancini, P. (2017). Ten Years After Comparing Media Systems: What Have We Learned? Political Communication, 34(2), 155-171. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1233158
Hofseth, A. (2017). Fake News, Propaganda, and Influence Operations – a guide to journalism in a new, and more chaotic media environment. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Holmes, D. (2014, July 31). Whisper EIC: It’s not important if a story’s real, the only thing that really matters is whether people click on it’. Retrieved from https://pando.com/2014/07/31/whisper-eic-its-not-important-if-a-storys-real-the-only-thing-that-reallymatters-is-whether-people-click-on-it/
Kapidzic, S., Neuberger, C., Stieglitz, S. & Mirbabaie, M. (2018). The Quality of Tweets and the Adoption of Journalistic Norms. In O. Kim & A. Köhler (Eds.), Trust in Media and Journalism (pp. 61-69). Berlin: Springer.
Karlsson, M. (2011). The immediacy of online news, the visibility of journalistic processes and a restructuring of journalistic authority. Journalism, 12(3), 279-295. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1464884910388223
Kohring, M. & Matthes, J. (2007). Trust in News Media: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. Communication Research, 34(2), 231-252. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0093650206298071
Lewicki, R. J. & Mcallister, D. (1998). Trust and distrust: new relationships and realities. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 438-458.
McChesney, R. (2014). Blowing the Roof off the Twenty-First Century. New York: Monthly Review Press.
McQuail, D., Blumler, J. G. & Brown, J. R. (1972). The television audience: A revised perspective. In D. McQuail (Ed.), Sociology of Mass Communication (pp. 135-165). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Mellinger, G. L. (1956). Interpersonal trust as a factor in communication. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 52(3), 304-309.
Mellado, C. (2014). Professional roles in news content: Six dimensions of journalistic role performance. Journalism Studies, 16(4), 596-614. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.922276
Peruško, Z., Cuvalo, A., & Vozab, D. (2017). Mediatization of journalism: influence of the media system and media organization on journalistic practices in European digital mediascapes. Journalism, online first, 1-25. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1464884917743176
Picard, R. G. (2015). Journalists’ Perceptions of the Future of Journalistic Work. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Rodrigues, M. L. (2012). Profissões: Lições e ensaios. Lisbon: Almedina.
Rubin, V. L., Chen, Y. & Conroy, N. J. (2016). Deception Detection for News: Three types of Fakes. ASSIST, 52(1), 1-4. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2015.145052010083
Santana-Pereira, J. (2016). The Portuguese media system and the normative roles of the media: a comparative view. Análise Social, 221(4), 780-801.
Sayej, N. (2018, August 27). Fake news: an exhibition on the importance of accurate journalism. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/27/history-of-fake-news-journalism-exhibition-boone-county
Schranz, M., Schneider, J. & Eisenegger, M. (2018). Media Trust and Media Use. In K. Otto & A. Köhler. (Eds.), Trust in Media and Journalism (pp. 73-91). Berlin: Springer.
Schudson, M. & Zelizer, B. (2017). Fake News in context. In AA.VV., Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem (pp. 1-4). Pennsylvania: Annenberg School for Communication.
Shoemaker, P. J. & Vos, T. P. (2009). Gatekeeping Theory. New York: Routledge.
Shoemaker, P. J. & Reese, S. D. (2013). Mediating the Message in the 21st Century. A Media Sociology Perspective. New York: Routledge.
Silva, M. T., Figueiras, R., Brites, M. J., Amaral, I., Marôpo, L., Santos, S. C., Jerónimo, P., Espírito Santo, P. & Pacheco, L. (2017a). Audiências e cross-media: estudo de padrões de consumo de notícias em Portugal. Estudos em Comunicação, 25(1), 177-199.
Silva, M. T., Brites, M. J., Figueiras, R., Santos, S. C., Amaral, I., Marôpo, L., Jerónimo, P., Espírito Santo, P. & Pacheco, L. (2017b). Between traditional and social media: News repertoires in Portugal. Participations. Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 14(2), 283-300.
Simpson, J. A. (2007). Psychological Foundations of Trust. Association for Psychological Science, 16(5), 264-268. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00517.x
Singer, J. B. (2008). The journalist in the Network. A Shifting Rationale for the Gatekeeping Role and the Objectivity Norm. Tripodos, 23, 61-76.
Tandoc, E. C., Lim, Z. W. & Ling, R. (2017). Defining Fake News: A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 137-153. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Watts, D. J. & Rothschild, D. M. (2017). The minority report on the fake news crisis: (spoiler alert: it’s the real news). In AA.VV., Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem (pp. 23-37). Pennsylvania: Annenberg School for Communication.
Zaryan, S. (2017). Truth and Trust: How audiences are making sense of Fake News. Lund: Lund University.
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