2016 THE BACKGROUND OF FAKE NEWS: THROUGH WHAT THEORY CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE 2016 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Ștefan VLĂDUȚESCU and Dan Valeriu Voinea
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Ștefan VLĂDUȚESCU: CCSCMOP, University of Craiova, Romania
Dan Valeriu Voinea: CCSCMOP, University of Craiova, Romania

Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 2019, vol. 6, issue 2, 257-279

Abstract: The study starts from the finding that starting with 2016 in the journalistic, strategic and academic, state and independent media, there are intense, wide and contradictory debates regarding the fake news phenomenon. The present investigation constitutes a composite research: a) it marks the voluntary and / or involuntary contribution of Donald Trump to putting in the agenda of technical, political and theoretical the concerns of fake news and declaring our age as "the age of fake news", b) it asks questions about the possibility of technical and theoretical control of fake news, c) we find that the big theories regarding public opinion and media influence are inapplicable to this social phenomenon and d) ask questions about a potential, future theory that can describe and explain optimally the fake news phenomenon. The working method is complex, combining meta-analytical, comparative procedures and the history of concepts. From the review of the most significant theories of media effects (one step flow, two steps flow, spiral of silence and agenda-setting with its "forms" - framing and priming) it appears that most of them have been elaborated by following close observation of some electoral campaigns: except for the spiral of silence it was always about the American presidential campaigns. The bottom line is that these theories cannot give a satisfactory explanation of the fake news phenomenon and the success of Donald Trump's US presidential campaign .As such, it appears necessary in the future to configure a comprehensive theory that a) describes and explains the blow given by Donald Trump and b) evaluates and norms the behaviour of generating fake news. Finally, for a future research the idea that the irradiating core of fake news is a factoid and / or a factlet must be taken into account.

Keywords: fake news; factoid; 2016 US Presidential election; Donald Trump (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:edt:jsserr:v:6:y:2019:i:2:p:257-279

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