Fake News against the Spanish Second Republic: The ABC as a Collaborator and Agitator of the Coup of 1936

Abstract

This research proposes to analyze the role of the Spanish newspaper ABC as a collaborator and agitator of the coup d’état of 1936 in Spain by publishing false, exaggerated, or unverified information in order to create a climate of opinion favorable to the uprising against the republican regime. The chosen methodology is the case study and the content analysis of 177 news, editorials, opinion articles, electoral propaganda, and political speeches published in this Spanish newspaper from the 6th of February to the 19th of July 1936. Throughout the research, we confirm that the ABC used different strategies to justify the coup d’état, which led to Franco’s dictatorship.