Fake news and generation z journalists. Post-millennial solutions against disinformation

Main Article Content

David García-Marín

Abstract

Disinformation has been one of the most analyzed issues in recent years in media studies. However, there is still a lack of research on young media professionals´ perceptions about this problem. They are considered to be essential in the adoption of future strategies to tackle fake news. This research intends to discover the hegemonic ideas of new journalists on this problem and how they perceive its possible solutions. A total of 45 in-depth interviews with Generation Z journalists (mean age: 24.14 years) were carried out, complemented with two focus groups and the application of a semantic differential scale, whose results were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. New journalists affirm the solution to the problem should be approached from a convergent technocentrism that combines technological determinism with a traditionalist perspective that resorts to the old values of journalism to combat the information disorders that proliferate today. Data journalism, which merges traditional journalistic practices with new technological tools, is perceived as a more effective solution than fact-checking and artificial intelligence, even though the latter two practices are considered as faster strategies to tackle disinformation. Likewise, new journalists highlight the need to develop digital, critical, and media literacy for citizens.

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How to Cite
García-Marín, David. 2021. “Fake News and Generation Z Journalists. Post-Millennial Solutions Against Disinformation”. Vivat Academia. Journal of Communication 154 (June):37-63. https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2021.154.e1324.
Section
Monograph 1
Author Biography

David García-Marín, Rey Juan Carlos University

Doctor by the UNED. Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Sociology of the Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid, Spain), where he teaches the subject New Technologies and Information Society. In parallel, he works as a visiting professor in various master's degrees in digital communication, new pedagogies, and transmedia journalism at UNED, where he has also directed several courses on digital media and disinformation. His research areas focus on podcasting and digital audio, disinformation, transmedia journalism, and artificial intelligence applied to media communication. He is the author of numerous articles and books focused on current perspectives on communication and the challenge of misinformation in today's society. His last published book is La posverdad. Una cartografía de los medios, las redes y la política (Gedisa, 2019).

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