Combating Fake News in the Post-Truth Era: A Study on the News Verification Practices of University Students
Öz
Fake news is rapidly disseminated through the internet and social media. For news consumers to access accurate information, they must be able to recognize and differentiate fake news. At this juncture, news verification practices gain significance. The objective of this research is to examine the news verification practices of university students. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 university students. The findings of the research indicated that the primary verification method students employed when encountering suspicious news was typically to cross-reference information from various websites via a Google search. Furthermore, it was observed that methods such as consulting television main news bulletins, seeking opinions from their social circle comprising family and friends, and referring to diverse social media accounts to ascertain the veracity of news were predominantly preferred as secondary or tertiary verification mechanisms. Upon examining students' experiences with encountering fake news, it was concluded that deepfake content, generated using artificial intelligence technologies, is a factor that heightens skepticism towards news. It was also revealed that awareness of fact-checking/verification platforms actively engaged in combating fake news remains considerably low among university students, and these platforms are not actively utilized by students as a verification method.
Anahtar Kelimeler
News Consumption, Fake News, Factcheking, Post-Truth, Disinformation
Kaynakça
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