Learning to misinform. A prebunking strategy with newsgames, to foster skills in the Journalism degree

Authors

Abstract

Most attempts to neutralise misinformation in the academic environment aim to refute false reports after the message has reached the recipient (debunking strategies), rather than to promote pre-emptive preparation of the subject (prebunking strategies). In response to this latter modality, the present study aims to counter the risks of uncritical overexposure in social networks with the help of game dynamics. The idea is for young people—especially students of journalism at the University of Valladolid—to learn how to recognise and combat Fake News through simulation techniques. To this end, the game entitled “The Bad News Game” (DROG, 2018) evaluates the results of the game experience using a questionnaire and the content analysis method. The field research confirms that news games promote the acquisition of skills, and shows that future journalists feel just as vulnerable to misinformation as any other group.

Keywords

fake news, informative literacy, newsgames, theory of inoculation, prebunking

References

AGUADED, I. y ROMERO-RODRÍGUEZ, L. M. (2015). «Mediamorfosis y desinformación en la infoesfera: Alfabetización mediática, digital e informacional ante los cambios de hábitos de consumo informativo». Education in the Knowledge Society (EKS), 16 (1), 44-57. https://doi.org/10.14201/eks20151614457

ALLCOTT, H. y GENTZKOW, M. (2017). «Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election». Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31 (2), 211-236. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211

BASOL, M.; ROOZENBEEK, J. y VAN DER LINDEN, S. (2020). «Good News about Bad News: Gamified Inoculation Boosts Confidence and Cognitive Immunity against Fake News». Journal of Cognition, 3 (1), 2. https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.91

BLANCO ALFONSO, I.; GARCÍA GALERA, C. y TEJEDOR CALVO, S. (2019). «El impacto de las fake news en la investigación en Ciencias Sociales: Revisión bibliográfica sistematizada». Historia y Comunicación Social, 24 (2), 449-469. https://doi.org/10.5209/hics.66290

BROULLÓN-LOZANO, M. A. (2020). «Contar la(s) historia(s): Innovación docente en materias de Historia de la Comunicación». Anàlisi: Quaderns de Comunicació i Cultura, 62, 19-34. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/analisi.3267

CARBO, T. (2013). «Conceptual Relationship of Information Literacy and Media Literacy: Consideration within the Broader Mediacy and Metaliteracy Framework». En: Conceptual Relationship of Information Literacy and Media Literacy. París: UNESCO, 92-101. Recuperado de https://bit.ly/3uq1Y12.

CARRIERI. V.; MADIO, L. y PRINCIPE, F. (2019). «Vaccine hesitancy and (fake) news: Quasi‐experimental evidence from Italy». Health Economics, 28 (1), 1377-1382. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3937

CILIP (2018). Information Literacy. Recuperado de https://bit.ly/3NoDn5p.

COOK, J. (2016). «Countering Climate Science Denial and Communicating Scientific Consensus». Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication. Londres: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.314

DÍAZ-CAMPO, J.; SEGADO-BOJ, F. y FERNÁNDEZ-GÓMEZ, E. (2021). «Hábitos del usuario y tipo de red social como predictores de consumo y difusión de noticias». Profesional de la Información, 30 (4). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.jul.17

DONATH, J. S. (1996). «Identity and deception in the virtual community». En: M. A. SMITH y P. KOLLOCK (ed.). Communities in cyberspace. 1.ª ed. Londres: Routledge, 29-59. Recuperado de https://bit.ly/3IyNLnq.

FERRER, R. y KARLSSON, M. (2016). «The gamification of journalism». En: H. GANGADHARBATLA y D. Z. DAVIS (eds.). Emerging research and trends in Gamification. IGI Global, 356-383.

GARCÍA-ORTEGA, A. y GARCÍA-AVILÉS, J. A. (2021). «Uso del diseño lúdico para combatir la desinformación: Los newsgames como herramienta para la concienciación sobre los bulos». Icono 14, 19 (1), 179-204. https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v19i1.1598

GÓMEZ-GARCÍA, S.; PAZ-REBOLLO, M. y CABEZA-SAN-DEOGRACIAS, J. (2021). «Newsgames frente a los discursos del odio en la crisis de los refugiados». Comunicar, 67, 123-133. https://doi.org/10.3916/C67-2021-10

GÓMEZ-GARCÍA, S. y CARRILLO-VERA, J. A. (2020). «El discurso de los newsgames frente a las noticias falsas y la desinformación: Cultura mediática y alfabetización digital». Revista Prisma Social, 30 (1), 22-46. Recuperado de https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/3751.

GUTIÉRREZ, A. y TYNER, K. (2012). «Educación para los medios, alfabetización mediática y competencia digital». Comunicar, 19 (38), 31-39. https://doi.org/10.3916/C38-2012-02-03

HARDAKER, C. (2013). «Uh… not to be nitpicky, but the past tense of drag is dragged not drug: An overview of trolling strategies». Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 1 (1), 58-86. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.1.1.04har

KOZYREVA, A.; LEWANDOWSKY, S. y HERTWIG, R. (2020). «Citizens Versus the Internet: Confronting Digital Challenges with Cognitive Tools». Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 21 (3), 103-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100620946707

LEWANDOWSKY, S.; ECKER, U. K. H.; SEIFERT, C. M.; SCHWARZ, N. y COOK, J. (2012). «Misinformation and its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing». Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13 (3), 106-131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612451018

LIVINGSTONE, S.; BOBER, M. y HELSPER, E. J. (2005). «Active participation or just more information?». Information, Communication & Society, 8 (3), 287-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691180500259103

LOOS, E. F.; IVAN, L. y KAUFMAN, D. (2018). «Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: A Hoax Revisited. Or: how vulnerable are school children to Fake News?». Information and Learning Science, 119 (9/10), 514-528. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-04-2018-0031

MCDOUGALL, J.; BRITES, M. J.; COUTO, M. J. y LUCAS, C. (2019). «Digital literacy, fake news and education». Cultura y Educación, 31 (2), 203-212. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2019.1603632

MCGUIRE, W. J. (1964). «Some Contemporary Approaches». Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 1, 191-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60052-0

MEIER, K. (2018). «Journalism meets games: Newsgames as a new digital genre. Theory, boundaries, utilization». Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 7 (2), 429-444. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajms.7.2.429_1

MORENO-RODRÍGUEZ, R. (2020). «Reflexiones en torno al impacto del Covid-19 sobre la educación universitaria: Aspectos a considerar acerca de los estudiantes con discapacidad». Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social, 9 (3e). Recuperado de https://revistas.uam.es/riejs/article/view/12227/12090.

NAVARRO-SIERRA, N. y QUEVEDO-REDONDO, R. (2020). «El liderazgo político de la Unión Europea a través del ecosistema de aplicaciones móviles». Revista Prisma Social, 30, 1-21. Recuperado de https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/3731.

NAVARRO-SIERRA, N. y QUEVEDO-REDONDO, R. (2021). «Ludificación informativa en tiempos de pandemia: Newsgames y la Covid-19». Revista ComHumanitas, 11 (3), 56-74. https://doi.org/10.31207/rch.v11i3.274

PLEWE, CH. y FÜRSICH, E. (2017). «Are Newsgames Better Journalism?». Journalism Studies, 19, 2470-2487. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1351884

RAPP, D. N. y SALOVICH, N. A. (2018). «Can’t we just disregard fake news? The consequences of exposure to inaccurate information». Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 5 (2), 232-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732218785193

ROOZENBEEK, J. y VAN DER LINDEN, S. (2019). «The fake news game: Actively inoculating against the risk of misinformation». Journal of Risk Research, 22 (5), 570-580. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2018.1443491

ROOZENBEEK, J.; VAN DER LINDEN, S. y NYGREN, T. (2020). «Prebunking interventions based ‘inoculation’ theory can reduce susceptibility to misinformation across cultures». The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 1 (2), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.37016//mr-2020-008

SALAVERRÍA, R.; BUSLÓN, N.; LÓPEZ-PAN, F.; LEÓN, B.; LÓPEZ-GÓÑI, I. y ERVITI, M. C. (2020). «Desinformación en tiempos de pandemia: Tipología de los bulos sobre la Covid-19». Profesional de la Información, 29 (3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.15

SCHMID, P. y BETSCH, C. (2019). «Effective strategies for rebutting science denialism in public discussions». Nature Human Behaviour, 3 (9). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0632-4

SETA, G. de (2013). «Spraying, fishing, looking for trouble: The Chinese internet and a critical perspective on the concept of trolling». Fibreculture Journal, 22 (1), 300-318.

TEJEDOR, S. y TUSA JUMBO, F. E. (2020). «Los newsgames como herramienta periodística: Estudio de caso de experiencias de éxito». Revista Prisma Social, 30, 115-140. Recuperado de https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/1543.

WIEHL, A. (2014). «Newsgames–Typological approach, re-contextualization and potential of an underestimated emerging genre». IFLA Lyon. Recuperado de: https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/newspapers/Geneva_2014/s6-wiehl-en.pdf.

Published

2022-06-30

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.