Disinformation and the erosion of journalistic credibility in the context of fake news. A case study

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of the correlation between the loss of media credibility, information disarray, and the lack of transparency in news production processes. For this reason, the case study of a report published by the newspaper El Mundo in its Crónica supplement is presented herein for the purpose of analysing the ways in which disinformation manifests itself in the well-established press, and to what extent this may affect the press beyond what happens on social networks. The use of fabrication or the impersonation of trustworthy sources involved in the hoaxes that circulate on the Internet culminates in the indiscriminate mixing of false with true data, and the vague references to sources, the identities of which is impossible to verify, among other situations.