The AU headquarters celebrated World Press Freedom Day by launching the book "Disinformation and Power."

On April 30th, in observance of World Press Freedom Day, the University of Alicante Campus in Torrevieja, in collaboration with the City Council and the Casino de Torrevieja Cultural Society, held a debate featuring media professionals and a university expert in fake news research.

University-trained journalists, representatives of some of Torrevieja's leading media outlets, and the author of the book "Disinformation and Power: Alchemy of Persuasion" discussed the need to verify information to discover the truth, as well as promoting media literacy among young people and professionals to counter the dangers posed by information overload, misinformation, and hoaxes.

Raúl Rodríguez-Ferrándiz, the book's author, is a professor of Semiotics of Mass Communication at the University of Alicante. He won the Miguel de Unamuno Essay Prize in 2019 for "Magics of Fiction" (Devenir, 2020) and the Ciutat de València International Essay Prize in 2017 for "Masks of Lies" (Pre-Textos, 2018). Since 2016, he has specialized in post-truth politics, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news. He has published in cultural magazines such as Revista de Occidente, Claves de Razón Práctica, La maleta de Portbou, and Electra, and is a regular contributor to the "Arte y Letras" supplement of the Alicante newspaper Información.

The debate was moderated by Jesús Mula, PhD in journalism, professor of journalism at the University of Mexico (UMH), and journalist for the newspaper Información. Also participating were Esther Sánchez, representative of Onda Cero; Melania Sala, of Televisión Torrevieja (TVT); and Rafa Ballester, of Torrevieja Radio.

Thanks to their questions, based on their prior reading of the book, the author was able to present his book in a relaxed and engaging manner, as well as discuss the challenges, present, and future of information with news professionals.

Book information available from this link.

Synopsis of the book "Information is power" is a reviewable motto. When information circulates in an overabundance and is just a click away, when we are assaulted at every turn with messages that fit us like a glove, when everything is subject to leaks, then the lever of power is wielded through noise, which generates confusion and dissent.

It becomes a thick broth where stories compete for limited attention, and the truth is not a stable horizon for confronting them, but rather a value quoted on a market: it is privatized, viralized, and monetized without relation to the facts.

This book provides a brief introduction to 'Trumpology', the Cambridge Analytica case and computational propaganda, the Pizzagate case and the role of WikiLeaks, but also refers to those who contribute to polarization by attacking immigration, feminism or LGBTI rights. It talks about the content (in)moderation strategies of Facebook and X, and about the advertisers who finance, often unknowingly, pseudo-media that spread hoaxes or encourage hatred, of the conspiracies that lied with the story of the 'plandemic' when the virus arrived, and that now continue to deny climate change or scare people with the Great Replacement.

It examines our fondness for rumors and fictional lies, and for sharing them for a handful of likes.

Finally, a coda is dedicated to the DANA that hit the province of Valencia and to Trump's second victory in the American elections.