Fake News and Cinema: film analysis in Europe and the United States

Abstract

How does cinema reflect the reality of fake news? This paper answers this question. To the existing studies on cinema and journalism we want to add, under a qualitative analysis, the following point of view: those information professionals who defend professional malpractice because it is what the public demands. We understand qualitative methodology as the action of giving the film pieces analysed the category of primary source. We understand primary sources as those in which the data come directly from the population or a sample of the population (Torres, Paz and Salazar, 2014, p. 3). In this case, we are not talking about people, but about films.

The viral is present in news consumers who, despite having more capacity to communicate than ever, are victims and, at the same time, part of the problem in the rapid spread of fake news. On the one hand, the audience is a victim because their right to be informed with a quality news product is being violated. Secondly, it is also part of the problem. It is not possible for malicious information to have a strong influence on society if there is no audience to consume it. That is, without a prior critical analysis of the product they are consuming. The films analysed have shown us that the population must assume certain responsibilities in order to avoid the disastrous consequences of fake news.