In Europe people concern is growing regarding misinformation / disinformation phenomena, increasing news avoidance, and decreasing trust in news. Portugal is in an intermediate position among the EU countries that spread disinformation content (Cardoso et al., 2019). About 69% of Portuguese people perceive disinformation as a problem for their country (Eurobarometer, 2018). The issues associated with disinformation are not considered essential in the training of journalists in Portugal, verification protocols with fact checking methods are rare and journalists admit that the media may have disseminated content with disinformation (Moreno-Castro et al., 2022). On the other hand, Portugal ranks first on the Eurobarometer Media Trust Index (2022) and, according to the Digital News Report project (2023), it is the 3rd country in the world with the highest trust in news rates. Recent cross analysis also shows that Portuguese who trust news tend to be more concerned about disinformation online compared to those who do not trust news (76,8% vs 71,2%) (Badillo-Matos et al., 2023). How to map and explain those trends, highlighting these specificities, fixing a sort of national trust paradigm which persists across years and featuring differentiation factors and characteristics of the Portuguese in relation to news content and disinformation? Our paper draws from the Disinformation analytic model developed in the context of our IBERIFIER Iberian Media Research and Fact-Checking – project (Badillo-Matos et al., 2023) and discusses the characteristics of the Portuguese case-study presenting the results of mixed-methods research design: - through longitudinal analysis of data from DNR and Eurobarometer (2019-2023) we develop a set of indicators about Portuguese levels of trust in news, recognition of the importance of public service media, news avoidance and other variables related to disinformation. - through content analysis of documental sources and in-depth interviews with field experts we build a framework to analyze the impact of disinformation on political, economic, social and security issues, governance models in Portugal. Preliminary results point to different factors that can explain the Portuguese paradigm, highlighting the singularity of this scenario with its socio-political repercussions and institutional measures in the framework of the policies aligned by the European Commission. Results point the need to provide appropriate methodologies and tools to assess disinformation form a quantitative perspective too and ignite the debate around how to measure and monitor the impact of disinformation. Our conclusions reflect on data analysis and results about: - low political polarization; - strong center and incipient political extremism; - political power structures; - media organizations do not explicitly affiliate to political position.

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Disinformation,trust,Portugal,Iberifier