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The aim of this research is to analyse the electoral misinformation circulating in the public space as a whole during campaign periods. The sample is made up of 481 rebuttals published by the verification media Maldita.es, Newtral, Efe Verifica and Verificat in relation to 409 pieces of misinformation during the six campaigns carried out in Spain during the political cycle that began in the general election in November 2019, which also includes the regional elections held in Galicia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Madrid, Castilla y León, and Andalusia. The methodology consists of a content analysis of 13 variables articulated around five dimensions of study: scope of generation and/or dissemination, format, epistemological authority, prominence, theme, and discourse. The results show: (1) the predominance of the citizen space of social networks as a field for the generation and distribution of electoral misinformation; (2) the crude construction of misinformation, with a preponderance of text as a misinformation element accompanied by multimedia resources shared without alteration; (3) the pre-eminence of problematic materials disseminated anonymously and without citing sources and those actually distributed by the political class, especially the right wing; (4) the majority role of the political class, particularly the left, generally characterised in a negative manner, although the political class of the right receives a greater proportion of positive treatment; (5) the abundance of sectoral and ideological themes, with a prominent presence of attacking elites as the predominant populist discursive feature; and (6) the profusion of direct attacks on political rivals, especially related to ideological and management issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The research compares the thematic distribution between Spanish online media agenda and a sample of international mainstream online media on the headlines of their front pages. Through a longitudinal content analysis, carried out over two years, the study explores the news selection and hierarchization process to verify the thematic homogeneity between both agendas. The analysis of Spanish online media agenda also shows its reliance on wire material. This reliance is not restricted to international news. This also affects the domestic news. The study is part of the research project "Evolution of the online media in the context of convergence: message analysis" (CSO2009-13713-C05-04-subprograma SOCI-). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]