University teaching of information disorders in journalism degrees in Spain

Abstract

Since Trump was elected president in 2016 and the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the EU was held, fake news, disinformation, post-truth and verification have undermined the credibility of the media. These information disorders have also gained prominence in university journalism education in Spain. The objective of this exploratory research is twofold: 1) To x-ray the current state of teaching disinformation, post-truth, fake news and information verification (fact-checking) in the Spanish university system; 2) Gather the opinions of the teachers who teach these contents to assess the contributions and pending challenges. A documentary review of the teaching programs (N=2014) of the faculties that offer the Degree in Journalism (N=38) is carried out, as well as a survey of the teaching staff (N=103). The results confirm that this discipline is present in more than a hundred academic programs (N=110), thanks to the fact that it promotes social responsibility, awareness and critical thinking. Among the weaknesses, it stands out that it is a broad subject and the main challenges are the difficulty in its applicability. © 2025 Universidad de Alicante. All rights reserved