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Analysis of institutional authors

Llorca-Abad, GermánAuthor

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August 7, 2025
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Disinformation During the 2024 DANA Crisis in Spain. Analysis, Characteristics, Typologies and Denials

Publicated to: Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación: Mediterranean Journal of Communication. 16 (2): e29303- - 2025-12-01 16(2), DOI: 10.14198/MEDCOM.29303

Authors:

López-Carrión, AE; Llorca-Abad, G
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Affiliations

Univ Int Valencia, Valencia, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Valencia, Valencia, Spain - Author

Abstract

Purpose. This article analyzes the disinformation crisis that occurred during the DANA 2024 disaster in Spain, identifying the main falsehoods spread in digital press and their impact on public opinion and institutional communication. It explores false narratives, their connection to conspiracy theories, and their relationship with the phenomenon of diagonalism on social media. Methodology. A mixed-methods approach is employed, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis. The sample includes 185 news articles from 14 leading digital media outlets in Spain and the Valencian Community, published between October 28 and November 17, 2024. The content analysis follows a coding book based on previous research, categorizing falsehoods according to their origin, typology, debunking efforts, involved actors, and dissemination channels, among other aspects. Results and Conclusions. Disinformation during the DANA centered around falsehoods regarding the number of victims, climate conspiracy theories, and institutional attacks. The main targets were the Spanish Government and AEMET, while most of the falsehoods spread through social media and some traditional media outlets. The research confirms that disinformation in natural crises follows patterns of information disorders, hindering institutional response and shaping public perception of events. Singularities. This study stands out for its application of the concept of diagonalism to disinformation in natural disasters. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence on the spread of fake news and its impact on crisis management, offering insights for the development of fact-checking strategies and media literacy initiatives.
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Keywords

Climate changeCommunicationDanaDiagonalismDisinformationFake newsHoaxeImpactMisinformationValenciValencia

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación: Mediterranean Journal of Communication due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Cultural Studies.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-03-13:

  • Scopus: 1
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-03-13:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 7.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 22 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 94.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 2 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 14 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 10 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Additionally, the work has been submitted to a journal classified as Diamond in relation to this type of editorial policy.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (Llorca Abad, Germán).

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