**5. Discussion**

A thematic analysis of a generational approach to "fake news" and potentially manipulative content shows the justification of the application of this approach to the research, since differences in the perception and experience of and relation to this content are evident between members of the young and middle-aged generations.

In the first place, the difference between the two regarding this issue can be noticed in the way they perceive the notions of "fake news", disinformation, and potentially manipulative content. As for the young, they approach the aforementioned phenomena in a superficial and uncritical manner, without analysing the contents, thus resulting in equally superficial answers, offering no wider context and detailed analysis. They are aware of the presence of such contents in the media, but they do not put too much effort into searching for proper information since they think they are able to recognise and avoid the contents that lack credibility. One finds it difficult to accept their claims, given they have neither heard about notions such as imprints nor are familiar with the idea of the ownership structure of the media and editorial policy, which points to an uncritical approach to information sources. Unlike the young, the middle-aged participants reveal a much more serious attitude towards these issues, featuring an analytic and complex approach to negative media contents. Although they are also not able, like the young, to clearly define potentially manipulative content concerning incorrect and unauthentic information, they possess a more profound knowledge about the media itself and the way it functions, so they find the imprint an important issue, along with the ownership and history of the media company and the editorial policy. They pay a grea<sup>t</sup> deal of attention to the context of the information itself, and they relate the contents to their previous findings on the topic; they compare and analyse and create a wider image within the frame of the current socio-economic situation, which is an indicator of maturity in their approach to media contents.

It is interesting that neither group are familiar with the tools for verification and advanced searching for digital media contents, as well as for the verification of Internet portals and transparency of social media pages. In this respect, it is the middle-aged participants who show a higher level of knowledge and usage of an advanced Google search than the young respondents, which is contrary to a common belief that the young are "digital natives" [46] and that this is what makes them digitally literate. This research shows that this is not necessarily so, and it confirms the hypothesis of the paper that the young, despite their many hours on the Internet, are not familiar with all its capacities and that they have inadequately developed digital competences, whereas members of the middle-aged generation, probably due to their experience and an established critical approach to the media, reveal a higher level of critical media literacy and information literacy. They rely more on their previous experience and knowledge of media functioning, so they do not access the portals of the media they are not familiar with but only those they trust.

Another obvious difference between the two groups is their respective relation towards conspiracy theories. Namely, the young do not deem such contents as serious, they do not either produce or share the information, they merely read it for fun, whereas the middle-aged experience the material in question in a much more earnest manner; that is, they think of it as an alternative source of information that can help them to better understand certain situations or phenomena. Two participants even considered themselves conspiracy theorists (in a positive connotation), designing and sharing such contents and thus contributing to the general population in terms of informing them on various topics.

So, the middle-aged are, due to a greater level of distrust they show concerning media contents and a critical approach to information, more likely to believe in "alternative

facts", as they call them, or to leave the possibility for such contents to be credible and reliable. That shows that even these respondents, despite their years of personal and professional experience, are not media literate to a satisfying degree, and that they do not sufficiently appreciate the importance of personal responsibility regarding the designing and sharing of media contents in a virtual environment. Responsibility in the usage of media content (creating and sharing) is the foundation of media literacy, along with consciousness as regards the media company (its role and significance) and honesty (during usage and interpretation of media messages). The responsibility is developed within the personal context of media literacy, where individuals further their already existing skills and knowledge of media literacy. A low level of responsibility in this respect may point to an undeveloped personal context of media literacy [28,43].

The key factor for the approval of conspiracy theories is the necessity for the introduction of order, purpose, and control into one's own life, since, otherwise, people feel anxious due to the seriousness of the situations they find themselves in and the sense of impotence against them, and they wish for them to be resolved immediately [47]. Thus, conspiracy theories help the disempowered to "understand their disadvantaged social reality" [47,48] (p. 208). Individuals resort to the so-called confirmation bias, which is defined as a mechanism by means of which "we recall data and events in such a manner that confirms our beliefs or standpoints" [49] (p. 4) to reduce fear and anxiety, and it is a kind of cognitive bias and a fault of inductive reasoning; it is in human nature to believe that they must only choose what to believe in, and it is usually something that is consistent with their previous standpoints [49].

If we ask ourselves what emotion it is that makes people share "fake news" and potentially manipulative content, some scientists claim [50] that they have an answer to that, pointing out that one of the most dominant emotions is the fear of missing out, which is "related to the use of social media and can be a factor that contributes to the user's need to share information" [50–52] (pp. 6–7). In that context, our research shows that the middleaged participants who design and share contents they are not convinced are authentic on social media neither take into account the emotions of consumers of such contents nor are aware of the fact that the same contents can have a different effect on different users. They do not think too much about the emotions of others and the consequences that "fake news" may cause in them, but the majority of them still do not share such material without verifying it first. The young sometimes think of the emotions of consumers of various types of incorrect information in digital media (mostly about those who are the subject matter of such material), but they do not share it or try not to be a part of the circles that do. In essence, none of them are aware of the importance and responsibility of personal actions in the public sphere of digital media, but they perceive that space in more personal terms, not thinking about others that are present there as well, only in a virtual fashion. This is an important piece of evidence for the overall study, given the fact that it points to the lack of concern for other media content users in the young, which implies a lack of critical thinking as regards creating and sharing media content. Moreover, this also provides a ground for further research into the matter and searching for the ways to change it. Although one might expect young users of social media to be more anxious, considering the fact that they are more associated with media addiction and an enormous amount of time spent on social media, recently, other authors [53,54] (p. 10) have stipulated the contrary, since their study found that middle-aged adults (between 35 and 44 years) had higher rates of addiction to social networks compared to young adults. Therefore, the amount of time spent on social media is in correlation with anxiety, but this sense of anxiety can be contributed by the very media release that causes more or less uncomfortable feelings, which, as our research shows, can depend on the treatment of this release itself.

The results reveal that the young do not bother to a grea<sup>t</sup> extent about "fake news" and potentially manipulative content in the media, and they think that, as individuals, they cannot do anything to change that situation. On the other hand, the middle-aged oppose such contents, they mind them, and they find them burdening at times, but they think they

can influence their presence in the media by ignoring them and by creating contents on their own that they consider valuable. These differences in approach are in favour of a thesis that the middle-aged have a more mature attitude to "fake news" and potentially manipulative content, putting the content into a wider social context and by making efforts to provide a personal contribution in order to reduce the presence of such contents in the media. The research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal [55] shows that those who hold stronger beliefs are more susceptible to "fake news", which corresponds with the results of our research, which is an additional argumen<sup>t</sup> for education in the field of media for all media consumers.

To our knowledge, there is no similar research that relates to the perception of "fake news" as regards a generational approach in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but all the previous research directed towards the level of media literacy of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the presence of fake news and disinformation in digital media indicate, on the one hand, a low level of media literacy and a lack of education in the field and, on the other hand, an increasing amount of "fake news" and potentially manipulative content in digital media [14,43,44,56–59]. Further research might aim at revealing the relation towards unverified and incorrect contents in the media with regard to the level of education, since this research recognised the latter as an important indicator for building resistance to "fake news", and that relation should be additionally investigated.
