Satire or Fake News – A Hard-to-Spot Difference

Abstract

The article presents the results of an empirical study based on data from a written exam among 85 second-year students of Journalism at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. The study aims to illustrate the approaches and strategies used by students in dealing with a specific media message and, particularly, the possibility of satirical news-like texts to be perceived as fake news. Nearly 70% of the students defined a publication on a website called “No! News” as fake news, even though it is a well-known satirical website. The article discusses the students’ views on the concept of fake news, as well as differences between satire and fake news by making comparisons with existing research on the subject.