THE IMPORTANCE OF LITERACY IN THE DECODING OF FAKE NEWS: A CASE STUDY WITH 1ST YEAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SOCIAL COMMUNICATION Miguel Midões, Joana Martins, Nídia Salomé Morais Superior School of Education from the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu – CI&DEI - Centre for Studies in Education and Innovation (PORTUGAL) Abstract Based on the definition of fake news as forged information, which aims to manipulate and/or deceive the audience [1] and considering that in Portugal, in 2020, a study by Obercom showed that almost half of respondents said they had difficulties in distinguishing false information from the news [2], we wanted to assess the level of media literacy and the impact of misinformation among students in the 1st year of a degree in Social Communication. Seeking to assess the degree of preparation of students in the field of Communication Sciences to deal with this reality, we applied a questionnaire to students in the 1st year of the degree in Social Communication at the Superior School of Education – Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. The first results from the questionnaires applied in the 2020/2021 academic year show some trends in the profile of students upon entry into higher education, namely in terms of unpreparedness and difficulties in classifying fake news. Most of the 1st year, students agree that the definition of fake news is "false news published by the media". This answer demonstrates the misunderstanding between news as an informative product conceived within a news media and fake news as manufactured information, reproducing, only in its form, the informative media [1], and aiming at manipulation or deceiving of the audience. Still, in misinformation, the difficulty in clearly identifying fake news sites also seems to be one of the main problems students face when entering higher education. At the same time, and given the excerpts in which students should classify the content, it is worth noting that almost all 1st-year students classify the two examples of fake news presented as news. We are talking about excerpts without an identified source of information and where the purpose of appealing to emotions seems clear. In the excerpts of these fake news, most students consider that the source does not exist or is not trustworthy and, at the same time, agree with the classification of the content as news should be an object of reflection. Keywords: Students, Higher Education, Media Studies, Literacy, Fake News. 1 INTRODUCTION Journalism plays an essential role in constructing reality and is, simultaneously, one of the access doors to the world. Traditional media underwent an inevitable reconversion with the emergence and growth of the internet, and, currently, there is a significant change in the profile of information consumption, especially among the younger population, digital natives and primary users of social networks. Digital has brought, simultaneously, more accessible access to any information, as well as an overwhelming amount of that information. Among other consequences of this informational "tsunami", fake news is one of the most expressive faces of the new era. Since media professionals are one of the groups in society that have to face the challenge of misinformation daily, it seemed pertinent to assess how literate students are when they start the course, particularly in misinformation, brought to the public agenda with the proliferation of fake news. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW The concern with fake news has reached an "unprecedented level" [3, p.123], much because we live in times of complexity caused by the informational disorder and informational pollution [4], times of "infoxication" [5] and of the privilege given by the media to infotainment content, based on superficial and sensationalist narratives, designed for clickbait and, many times, aside from deontological concerns [3]. The concept of fake news is neither new nor unprecedented. In the late 19th century, considered the golden century of the press, the North American press used this term to talk about the diffusion of false information inserted in the middle of news with accurate information to make the content more appealing to the reader. At the same time, in Portugal, for instance, [6] reports that "many of these periodicals had Proceedings of INTED2022 Conference 7th-8th March 2022 ISBN: 978-84-09-37758-9 3005