ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on a relevant empirical comparative research analysis of position of the television and internet fake news stories in the structure of news during the electoral period for the EU on one hand and for general elections on the other. This research is based on the content analysis of news sequences and news stories, which analyses some of their key features like the type of selected media, the role of elections and polarisation, the type of news stories and the relevant journalistic discourse, the agenda-setting function and the eventual source and purpose of distortion. The research sample consists of television news bulletins and news websites from the last weeks of the electoral period before EU elections and before the Greek general elections (from July 1, 2019 to July 6, 2019). During these periods, news from three nationwide television channels and equal number of websites is analysed. Through this method, the research attempts to highlight the differences in fake news production that occur when the news is presented, firstly, in a channel or on a website, secondly, in a private channel or in a public one and, finally, during a soft (European and local elections) or a hard pre-election period (national elections).
