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

Abstract

The presence of “fake news” and potentially manipulative content in the media is nothing new, but this area has largely expanded with the emergence of the Internet and digital media, thus opening itself up to anyone who has online access. As a result, there is an increasing amount of such content in the media, especially in digital media. This paper deals with the perception of fake news and potentially manipulative content by various generations—in particular, the perceptions of the young and the middle-aged generations, with the focus being on their ability to recognise, verify, and relate to such content. The results of this study were gained by means of a qualitative methodology applied to focus groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results are presented through a thematic analysis of the differences in perception of “fake news” between these generations, firstly in terms of their apprehension and interpretation of it, and secondly in terms of their relation to it. The authors conclude that both generations lack competence concerning media literacy, and that providing education in the field of digital media might offer a long-term solution for building resistance to “fake news” for future generations.

Trust, Media Credibility, Social Ties, and the Intention to Share towards Information Verification in an Age of Fake News

“…On the other hand, internet users need to be more aware of fake news existing and possess some basic knowledge about fake news recognition [ 49 ]. Our results are in line with Trinicic et al [ 50 ] and confirm that there is some lack of competence concerning media literacy [ 51 ]. Providing education in the field of digital media might offer a long-term solution for building resistance to fake news for future generations.…”

“In Flow”! Why Do Users Share Fake News about Environmentally Friendly Brands on Social Media?

“…This finding is consistent with prior research [95,96] and emphasizes that online trust is a prerequisite of users' optimal experience while browsing on social media. Online trust had a positive influence on sharing fake news on social media (H6) which is consistent with previous findings [162][163][164]. In a systematic literature review regarding sharing health information across online platforms, Le et al [143] outline that in 19 articles trust was emphasized as a necessary condition that enables users to share HRI (health related information) on social media, being a key metric when considering whether to share information.…”

“…Flow theory has been used to explain the healthrelated information sharing behavior on social media [143]. A recent study [164] indicates important differences in perception of fake news among the young and the middle-aged generations in terms of apprehension, interpretation, relation to fake news and media literacy, which might be a possible future research direction.…”

The attitude of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic with regard to the level of education

“…Metoda korištena u procesu kvalitativnog istraživanja jeste fokus grupa. Ova metoda je odabrana zbog samog predmeta istraživanja koji zahtijeva pregled različitih mišljenja i stavova o percepciji i odnosu ispitanika prema dezinformacijama tokom pandemije virusa korona (Trninić, Kuprešanin Vukelić, Bokan, 2022). Fokus grupa kao kvalitativna istraživačka tehnika "koja podrazumeva seriju grupnih razgovora koji okupljaju učesnike, slične po nekim karakteristikama i iskustvima, da raspravljaju o određenim pitanjima relevantnim za istraživački problem" (Đurić, 2005: 5 u Popadić, Pavlović i Žeželj, 2018 odabrana je za ovo istraživanje i zbog pristupa predmetu istraživanja, a to je obrazovni pristup, odnosno uloga nivoa opšreg obrazovanja u odnosu prema dezinformacijama.…”