Fake news during the war World I: Study of their representation in the front page of the Spanish press (ABC Madrid)

Abstract

Fake news have been used by political great power entities since the beginning of the History. News related to atrocities made by the German bloc during the World War I were a good example of them, used by the allied bloc as propaganda to convince the public opinion and the neutral countries (above all, the United States) of the war urge. Spain, despite having declared its neutrality in this conflict, was divided in two blocs: those who supported the German cause and those who supported the allies. The objective of this paper is to analyse the representation of the German atrocities’ stories in the Spanish newspaper ABC, which was accused of defending the German bloc though being officially declared neutral.