scholarly journals The consequences of online partisan media

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (14) ◽  
pp. e2013464118
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Guess ◽  
Pablo Barberá ◽  
Simon Munzert ◽  
JungHwan Yang

What role do ideologically extreme media play in the polarization of society? Here we report results from a randomized longitudinal field experiment embedded in a nationally representative online panel survey (N = 1,037) in which participants were incentivized to change their browser default settings and social media following patterns, boosting the likelihood of encountering news with either a left-leaning (HuffPost) or right-leaning (Fox News) slant during the 2018 US midterm election campaign. Data on ≈ 19 million web visits by respondents indicate that resulting changes in news consumption persisted for at least 8 wk. Greater exposure to partisan news can cause immediate but short-lived increases in website visits and knowledge of recent events. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, however, we find little evidence of a direct impact on opinions or affect. Still, results from later survey waves suggest that both treatments produce a lasting and meaningful decrease in trust in the mainstream media up to 1 y later. Consistent with the minimal-effects tradition, direct consequences of online partisan media are limited, although our findings raise questions about the possibility of subtle, cumulative dynamics. The combination of experimentation and computational social science techniques illustrates a powerful approach for studying the long-term consequences of exposure to partisan news.

Author(s):  
Kathleen Searles ◽  
Joshua P. Darr ◽  
Mingxiao Sui ◽  
Nathan Kalmoe ◽  
Raymond Pingree ◽  
...  

Abstract Previous study demonstrates that partisans perceive in-party news outlets as fair, and out-party news outlets as unfair. However, much of this study relies on one-shot designs. We create an ecologically valid design that randomly assigns participants to news feeds within a week-long online news portal where the balance of in-party and out-party news outlets has been manipulated. We find that sustained exposure to a feed that features out-party news media attenuates Democrats' beliefs that Fox News is unfair, but the same is not true for Republican's perceptions of MSNBC's fairness. Unexpectedly, repeated exposure to in-party news did increase Republicans' beliefs that Fox News is unfair. This study updates our understanding of partisan news effects in a fragmented online news environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Hrckova ◽  
Robert Moro ◽  
Ivan Srba ◽  
Maria Bielikova

PurposePartisan news media, which often publish extremely biased, one-sided or even false news, are gaining popularity world-wide and represent a major societal issue. Due to a growing number of such media, a need for automatic detection approaches is of high demand. Automatic detection relies on various indicators (e.g. content characteristics) to identify new partisan media candidates and to predict their level of partisanship. The aim of the research is to investigate to a deeper extent whether it would be appropriate to rely on the hyperlinks as possible indicators for better automatic partisan news media detection.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilized hyperlink network analysis to study the hyperlinks of partisan and mainstream media. The dataset involved the hyperlinks of 18 mainstream media and 15 partisan media in Slovakia and Czech Republic. More than 171 million domain pairs of inbound and outbound hyperlinks of selected online news media were collected with Ahrefs tool, analyzed and visualized with Gephi software. Additionally, 300 articles covering COVID-19 from both types of media were selected for content analysis of hyperlinks to verify the reliability of quantitative analysis and to provide more detailed analysis.FindingsThe authors conclude that hyperlinks are reliable indicators of media affinity and linking patterns could contribute to partisan news detection. The authors found out that especially the incoming links with dofollow attribute to news websites are reliable indicators for assessing the type of media, as partisan media rarely receive links with dofollow attribute from mainstream media. The outgoing links are not such reliable indicators as both mainstream and partisan media link to mainstream sources similarly.Originality/valueIn contrast to the extensive amount of research aiming at fake news detection within a piece of text or multimedia content (e.g. news articles, social media posts), the authors shift to characterization of the whole news media. In addition, the authors did a geographical shift from more researched US-based media to so far under-researched European context, particularly Central Europe. The results and conclusions can serve as a guide how to derive new features for an automatic detection of possibly partisan news media by means of artificial intelligence (AI).Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at the following link: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2020-0441.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110252
Author(s):  
Sebastián Valenzuela ◽  
Daniel Halpern ◽  
Felipe Araneda

Despite widespread concern, research on the consequences of misinformation on people's attitudes is surprisingly scant. To fill in this gap, the current study examines the long-term relationship between misinformation and trust in the news media. Based on the reinforcing spirals model, we analyzed data from a three-wave panel survey collected in Chile between 2017 and 2019. We found a weak, over-time relationship between misinformation and media skepticism. Specifically, initial beliefs on factually dubious information were negatively correlated with subsequent levels of trust in the news media. Lower trust in the media, in turn, was related over time to higher levels of misinformation. However, we found no evidence of a reverse, parallel process where media trust shielded users against misinformation, further reinforcing trust in the news media. The lack of evidence of a downward spiral suggests that the corrosive effects of misinformation on attitudes toward the news media are less serious than originally suggested. We close with a discussion of directions for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Garriga ◽  
J. Robson ◽  
C. Coupland ◽  
J. Hippisley-Cox

Abstract Aims People living with serious mental ill-health experience adverse cardiovascular outcomes causing some of the greatest health inequality gaps in England, UK. We describe uptake of the NHS Health Check programme in people with mental ill-health, and rates of new diagnoses and management of cardiovascular risk factors in those who attend NHS Health Checks in comparison to those people without mental ill-health. Methods We used a large nationally representative database of people registered with general practitioners in England (QResearch). Between 2013 and 2017, we analysed attendance at NHS Health Checks and outcomes in the succeeding 12 months, in people with serious mental illness (SMI) including psychoses and in people prescribed long-term antidepressant medications (LTAD), with comparison to attendees who did not have these conditions. Hazard ratios (HR) were used to describe the association between outcomes and SMI and LTAD adjusting for sociodemographic variables. Results In those eligible for the NHS Health Check programme, we found a higher percentage of people with SMI attended an NHS Health Check (65 490, 19.8%) than those without SMI (524 728, 16.6%); adjusted HR 1.05 [95% confidence interval 1.02–1.08]. We also observed a higher percentage of attendance in people on LTAD (46 437, 20.1%) compared to people who were not prescribed LTAD (543 781, 16.7%); adjusted HR 1.10 (1.08–1.13). People with SMI were more likely to be identified with chronic kidney disease (CKD, HR 1.23, 1.12–1.34) and type 2 diabetes (HR 1.14, 1.03–1.25) within the 12 months following their NHS Health Check compared with those without SMI. People on LTAD were more likely to be identified with CKD (HR 1.55, 1.42–1.70) and type 2 diabetes (HR 1.45, 1.31–1.60) and also hypertension, cardiovascular disease, non-diabetic hyperglycaemia, familial hypercholesterolemia and dementia within the 12 months following their NHS Health Check. Statins were more likely to be prescribed to NHS Health Check attendees with SMI and those on LTAD than those without these conditions; HR 1.31 (1.25–1.38) and 1.91 (1.82–2.01), respectively. Antihypertensives were more likely to be prescribed to those on LTAD; HR 1.21 (1.14–1.29). Conclusions We found evidence that people with SMI or on LTAD treatment were 5–10% more likely to access NHS Health Checks than people without these conditions. People with SMI or on LTAD treatment who attended NHS Health Checks had higher rates of diagnosis of CKD, type 2 diabetes and some other relevant co-morbidities and increased treatment with statins and also anti-hypertensive medication in people on LTAD. This is likely to contribute to equitable reduction in adverse cardiovascular events for people with mental ill-health.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 3368
Author(s):  
Dafina Petrova ◽  
Andrés Catena ◽  
Miguel Rodríguez-Barranco ◽  
Daniel Redondo-Sánchez ◽  
Eloísa Bayo-Lozano ◽  
...  

Many adult cancer patients present one or more physical comorbidities. Besides interfering with treatment and prognosis, physical comorbidities could also increase the already heightened psychological risk of cancer patients. To test this possibility, we investigated the relationship between physical comorbidities with depression symptoms in a sample of 2073 adult cancer survivors drawn from the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2007–2018) in the U.S. Based on information regarding 16 chronic conditions, the number of comorbidities diagnosed before and after the cancer diagnosis was calculated. The number of comorbidities present at the moment of cancer diagnosis was significantly related to depression risk in recent but not in long-term survivors. Recent survivors who suffered multimorbidity had 3.48 (95% CI 1.26–9.55) times the odds of reporting significant depressive symptoms up to 5 years after the cancer diagnosis. The effect of comorbidities was strongest among survivors of breast cancer. The comorbidities with strongest influence on depression risk were stroke, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and arthritis. Information about comorbidities is usually readily available and could be useful in streamlining depression screening or targeting prevention efforts in cancer patients and survivors. A multidimensional model of the interaction between cancer and other physical comorbidities on mental health is proposed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073346482110236
Author(s):  
Regina A. Shih ◽  
Esther M. Friedman ◽  
Emily K. Chen ◽  
Grace C. Whiting

Objectives To estimate the national prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of gray market utilization, consisting of paid providers who are unrelated to the recipient, not working for a regulated agency, and potentially unscreened and untrained, for aging and dementia-related long-term care. Methods We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,037 American Life Panel respondents aged 18 years and older. Results Nearly a third of Americans who arranged paid care sought gray market care for persons with dementia, and most (65%) combined it with unpaid care. Respondents who arranged gray market care had 66% lower odds of currently working, and those living in rural areas had an almost 5-times higher odds of arranging dementia gray market care. Discussion Gray market care represents a substantial proportion of paid, long-term care for older adults and may fill gaps in access to care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
Xiao Xu ◽  
Jersey Liang ◽  
BoRin Kim ◽  
James Raymo ◽  
Mary Beth Ofstedal

Abstract Existing literature on childlessness among middle-aged and older Americans is sparse, and measuring childlessness is not straightforward for those with complex family histories. To address this knowledge gap, we examined data on 19,929 respondents age ≥50 from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study. All analyses accounted for complex sample design to generate nationally representative estimates. The proportion of respondents without children differed significantly depending on how “childless” was defined: 1) 14.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 13.9-15.9%) having no biological children, versus 2) 10.4% (95% CI: 9.5-11.3%) having no children/step-children that were living and in-contact. When measured based on absence of biological children, the prevalence of childlessness was higher in younger cohorts (17.7%, 13.2%, and 9.0% for age 50-64, 65-74, and ≥75 years, respectively, p<0.001) and among more educated individuals (17.4%, 12.3%, and 9.6% for more than high school, high school, and less than high school education, respectively, p<0.001). The prevalence of childlessness was also higher among men (16.7%) than women (13.2%) (p<0.001) and among non-Hispanic whites (16.0%) than Hispanics (9.8%) (p<0.001). Similar patterns, but lower prevalence, were observed when measuring childlessness based on absence of children/step-children that were living and in-contact. Although non-Hispanic whites (16.0%) were more likely than non-Hispanic blacks (13.0%) to have no biological children (p=0.007), a similar proportion of them had no children/step-children that were living and in-contact (10.8% versus 10.6%, p=0.06). Given fertility decline and growing family complexity, these findings help inform the structure of social support and long-term care needs of middle-aged and older Americans.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Pierre ◽  
Roland J. Thorpe ◽  
Gniesha Y. Dinwiddie ◽  
Darrell J. Gaskin

This article sought to determine whether racial disparities exist in psychotropic drug use and expenditures in a nationally representative sample of men in the United States. Data were extracted from the 2000-2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a longitudinal survey that covers the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. Full-Year Consolidated, Medical Conditions, and Prescribed Medicines data files were merged across 10 years of data. The sample of interest was limited to adult males aged 18 to 64 years, who reported their race as White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. This study employed a pooled cross-sectional design and a two-part probit generalized linear model for analyses. Minority men reported a lower probability of psychotropic drug use (Black = −4.3%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [−5.5, −3.0]; Hispanic = −3.8%, 95% CI = [−5.1, −2.6]; Asian = −4.5%, 95% CI = [−6.2, −2.7]) compared with White men. After controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health status variables, there were no statistically significant race differences in drug expenditures. Consistent with previous literature, racial and ethnic disparities in the use of psychotropic drugs present problems of access to mental health care and services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 711-712
Author(s):  
Katherine Ornstein ◽  
Jennifer Reckrey ◽  
Evan Bollens-Lund ◽  
Katelyn Ferreira ◽  
Mohammed Husain ◽  
...  

Abstract A large and growing population of older adults with multimorbidity, cognitive impairment, and functional disability live in the community but are homebound (never/rarely leave home). While homebound status is associated with decreased access to medical services and poor health outcomes, it is unclear how long individuals remain homebound. We used the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and over, with survey weighting to assess duration of homebound status in the community. Among the incident homebound in 2016 (n=253) , only 28% remained homebound after 1 year. 21% died, 18% were recovered, and one-third left the home but still reported difficulty. As the locus of long-term care shifts from nursing homes to the community and models of care expand to serve the needs of the homebound, it is critical that we better understand the heterogeneity and transitions of the homebound population.


2021 ◽  
pp. 61-64
Author(s):  
Niranjana Niranjana ◽  
Ren Feng

The rise of India and China is a major historical developmental trend that has led to peaceful India-China media cooperation. From a long-term strategic point of view, the Indian and Chinese media platforms should seek common ground while overcoming differences and increasing mutual trust. The governments of India and China should grasp the dominant power of public opinion in traditional media, new media and self-media platforms. We must increase the number of each other's reporting stations and media branches to promote the "opposite column" in the content of the mainstream media. Meanwhile both sides should strengthen the training of reporters and journalist, thus improve the existing India-China media cooperation systems and gradually cut mutual misunderstandings by building friendly provinces, sister cities, and cultural and tourism exchange projects to jointly serve the two countries' national strategy for the smooth realization of a peaceful rise.


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