Open AccessThe role of journalism in combating fake news: the case of the last day of the 2019 election campaign in Portugal
Author(s) -
Tiago Lima Quintanilha,
Gustavo Cardoso,
Vania Baldi,
Miguel Paisana
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sociologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2182-7907
pISSN - 0873-6529
DOI - 10.7458/spp20219720823
Subject(s) - disinformation , portuguese , scrutiny , journalism , political science , news media , fake news , media coverage , media studies , general election , sociology , social media , politics , law , philosophy , linguistics
This article reflects on the role of journalism in the deconstruction of fake news propaganda that came out in the media on the last day of the 2019 parliamentary election campaign in Portugal. We collected news items carried by the Portuguese media and contextualised this media coverage with regard to the impact of disinformation on confidence in the news with the help of data collated as part of the Digital News Report project. We found that journalistic scrutiny, aided by the characteristics of the Portuguese media system, might have contributed to a zero effect of this fake news on the election results, unlike what happened in elections in other countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Brazil.