Fake news is a threat to democracy, so it is essential to understand how it works. A recent study published by Irene Cruz, Daniel Ortín and Jaume Suaufrom the Ramon Llull University, presents the results of an experiment in which true and false news from different media were shown to a total of 2,500 participants between 18 and 74 years old. Participants had to decide whether each news story was true or false and whether they would share it or not. They were also asked to answer several questions about their thoughts and beliefs, political orientation and personal circumstances, in order to identify what factors influenced them when giving credibility to a news story and sharing it. Field work was carried out between May 9 and 25, 2023 using surveys.
The experiment consisted of consecutively showing each participant six news stories on the following topics: gender, immigration, climate change, war in Ukraine, Covid vaccines and sexual violence. Each news item randomly varied the combination of the following elements: name of the media outlet, tone of the headline (positive, neutral or negative), gender of the journalist, (apparent) nationality of the journalist, the inclusion or absence of an image and, in the If you include an image, the tone (positive, neutral or negative) of it.
1. Credibility in a specific media outlet increased the perception of truthfulness of a news item
The news used in the experiment was presented as coming from different Spanish media outlets -CTXT, The World, The Country, Newtral, OkdiaryRTVE and Telecinco‒ and an invented media: Noticias Hoy. Unlike real media, which had supporters and detractors among participants, the invented media tended to obtain more average scores.
The data show that the level of credibility of the individuals in the selected Spanish media and in the invented one was relevant when it came to trusting the news presented in the article. Specifically, the credibility previously expressed in a media outlet significantly increased the probability that a participant would trust the news presented by said media outlet. During the experiment, this occurred whether the news in question was based on real information or false information.
The magazine that is late to the latest news obtained the lowest score: 2.7 points
The participants in the study attributed the greatest credibility to RTVE (with almost 6 points), followed closely by the newspapers. The Country and The World. Telecinco’s Noticias obtained an average score of 5 out of 10, while the non-existent Noticias Hoy reached around 4.5 points on average. The media with the least credibility for those surveyed were, in this order, OkDiario, Newtral and CTXT. The magazine that is late to the latest news received the lowest score: 2.7 points.
2. A positive headline increased the perception of the truth of the news and the likelihood that it would be shared
During the experiment, three versions of headlines were compared. For each news item, three versions were created: one with a positive headline, another with a neutral headline, and a third with a negative headline. For example, for the news about Covid vaccines, the following three headlines were presented: a) “Recent studies suggest that Covid vaccines may cause mild adverse effects” (positive); b) “Recent studies point to possible adverse effects of Covid vaccines” (neutral), and c) “Recent studies question Covid vaccines due to their adverse effects” (negative). Articles with positive headlines received higher mean scores for perceived truthfulness and likelihood of being shared than those with neutral or negative headlines, regardless of whether the news was real or fake.
3. A higher level of prior knowledge about a topic was significant in relation to the probability of sharing the news, but not in relation to the perception of truthfulness.
The news used in the experiment dealt with diverse topics: the anti-vaccine movement, climate change, gender, the war in Ukraine, migration and sexual crimes. Only the news about sexual crimes was real. Participants who reported having prior knowledge about a news story (real or fake) were more likely to share it.
Self-declared knowledge levels on a specific topic do not reliably predict the ability to detect hoaxes.
However, it was observed that the participants’ self-declared knowledge levels on a specific topic do not reliably predict their ability to detect fake news. In contrast, participants who gave high veracity scores to these fake news had tended to self-declare higher levels of knowledge than the rest of the respondents. This finding could be useful in the development of prevention and intervention policies: it is possible that citizens tend to believe that they have more knowledge than they actually have, which increases the probability that they give credibility to fake news. Therefore, media literacy policies and factual verification strategies are crucial.
4. Identifying as right-wing increased the perception of the truthfulness of a news story and the likelihood of sharing it
Ideological self-positioning was measured in two ways. On the one hand, participants evaluated their political orientation on a scale that ranged from extreme left to extreme right; There was also an “apolitical” option. On the other hand, they had to indicate the extent to which they agreed with a series of statements about their basic beliefs. These statements allow individuals to be placed along two axes: one that represents the individualism-collectivism continuum and another that represents the authoritarianism-liberalism continuum. This way of measuring ideology offers a very precise x-ray of political positions.
As for the results, both measures point in the same direction. Specifically, they show that identifying with the right or agreeing with conservative core beliefs, which tend more toward authoritarianism and individualism, increased the likelihood of trusting and sharing news, regardless of whether it was real or false.
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