Creencias, actitudes y comportamientos de estudiantes universitarios de Comunicación en la comunidad andina ante la desinformación

University students in Communication programs play a leading role in the fight against misinformationandcontributetothedevelopmentofadeliberativeandpluralisticcommunicativeecosystem. Basedon an exploratory thematic analysis throughfocus groups (N=37)conductedin2023at11universities in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, this study examines the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of Communication students regarding the phenomenon of misinformation. It specifically examines how they perceivethisissue, theimportanceofCommunication programsinunderstandingit, theirattitudestowards the transmission of misinformation, and the strategies and skills they use to identify false or misleading information. The results confirm that students perceive misinformation as a problem that affects society worldwide, butattributeits spreadandtheriskofcreating misperceptions to older adults because they trust traditional media. Furthermore, students associate the spread of misinformation with instant messaging platforms andreport that after starting their studies andafter the COVID-19 pandemic, they have adopted a more critical attitude and developed different strategies and skills to combat misinformation.