The effect of news consumption on fake news efficacy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Chan-Olmsted ◽  
Yufan Sunny Qin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
Perceived Effects ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The increasing use of social media has led to the growing reliance of social media as a news source. The viral nature of social platforms inevitably elevates the viral impact of fake news. As both academia and practitioners touted media literacy as a means of combating fake news or misinformation, little is known about the nature of relevant efficacies. Existent literature points to the plausible contribution of media consumption, self-efficacy of fake news and perceived impact of fake news in this process. Therefore, this study explored the relationship between consumers’ news consumption, such as fake news experiences/perceptions, news sources and news consumption motives; and fake news perceptions like self-efficacy and impacts. This study conducted an online survey to examine the proposed hypotheses and research questions. The findings suggest that consumers’ previous experiences and consumption motives are connected with their perceived effects and efficacy of fake news. In addition, different news sources (i.e. mainstream media and social media) exert diverse effects on fake news self-efficacy.

scholarly journals Fighting misinformation on social media using crowdsourced judgments of news source quality

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (7) ◽  
pp. 2521-2526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Pennycook ◽  
David G. Rand
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Display Content ◽  
Democrats And Republicans

Reducing the spread of misinformation, especially on social media, is a major challenge. We investigate one potential approach: having social media platform algorithms preferentially display content from news sources that users rate as trustworthy. To do so, we ask whether crowdsourced trust ratings can effectively differentiate more versus less reliable sources. We ran two preregistered experiments (n = 1,010 from Mechanical Turk and n = 970 from Lucid) where individuals rated familiarity with, and trust in, 60 news sources from three categories: (i) mainstream media outlets, (ii) hyperpartisan websites, and (iii) websites that produce blatantly false content (“fake news”). Despite substantial partisan differences, we find that laypeople across the political spectrum rated mainstream sources as far more trustworthy than either hyperpartisan or fake news sources. Although this difference was larger for Democrats than Republicans—mostly due to distrust of mainstream sources by Republicans—every mainstream source (with one exception) was rated as more trustworthy than every hyperpartisan or fake news source across both studies when equally weighting ratings of Democrats and Republicans. Furthermore, politically balanced layperson ratings were strongly correlated (r = 0.90) with ratings provided by professional fact-checkers. We also found that, particularly among liberals, individuals higher in cognitive reflection were better able to discern between low- and high-quality sources. Finally, we found that excluding ratings from participants who were not familiar with a given news source dramatically reduced the effectiveness of the crowd. Our findings indicate that having algorithms up-rank content from trusted media outlets may be a promising approach for fighting the spread of misinformation on social media.

scholarly journals Nudge Effect of Fact-Check Alerts: Source Influence and Media Skepticism on Sharing of News Misinformation in Social Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511989732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmie Nekmat
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
Issue Involvement ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
News Sharing ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Individual Issue

This study extends the nudge principle with media effects and credibility evaluation perspectives to examine whether the effectiveness of fact-check alerts to deter news sharing on social media is moderated by news source and whether this moderation is conditional upon users’ skepticism of mainstream media. Results from a 2 (nudge: fact-check alert vs. no alert) × 2 (news source: legacy mainstream vs. unfamiliar non-mainstream) ( N = 929) experiment controlling for individual issue involvement, online news involvement, and news sharing experience revealed significant main and interaction effects from both factors. News sharing likelihood was overall lower for non-mainstream news than mainstream news, but showed a greater decrease for mainstream news when nudged. No conditional moderation from media skepticism was found; instead, users’ skepticism of mainstream media amplified the nudge effect only for news from legacy mainstream media and not unfamiliar non-mainstream source. Theoretical and practical implications on the use of fact-checking and mainstream news sources in social media are discussed.

scholarly journals An Appropriate Set of Skills for Limiting the Spread of Fake News

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80
Author(s):  
Nicoleta Acomi ◽  
Luis Ochoa Siguencia ◽  
Ovidiu Acomi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Analytical Skills ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Social Media Communication ◽  
The Eu

The diversity of news distributed via social media communication channels exposes citizens to large scale disinformation including misleading and false information. In this context of the massive use of social media and considering the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 with regards to democracy, there is a strong need for analytical skills. The main problem is the reduced level of commitment of people to evaluate social media news and to develop the proper analytical skills. This paper aims at exemplifying the utility of conducting survey-based primary research for identifying the most appropriate analytical skills for dealing with fake news. The research method consists of establishing and distributing a questionnaire targeting various categories of people. Feedback was collected through an online survey in 2020. The questionnaire included category questions aiming at analysing the responses from the age, youth category and time spent online perspective. This approach is thought to provide data of sufficient quality and quantity to meet the objective of identifying the most appropriate analytical skills for dealing with fake news. The results of this study emphasize the views of respondents with regards to fake news approach, the extent to which various categories of people are checking the news before sharing, as well as the preferred criteria used for verifying the correctness of the news from social media. Based on the analysis of the results, the author proposed a set of solutions to empower youth to evaluate fake news and to detect disinformation campaigns across social networks.

Social media, fake news and fake COVID-19 cures in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Temple Uwalaka ◽  
Bigman Nwala ◽  
Amadi Confidence Chinedu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Stories ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
News Headlines

This study investigates the impact of social media ‘fake news’ and fake cures headlines on how Netizens viewed and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Using data from an online survey (N=254), this study reveals that social media was overwhelmingly the most used type of media for news consumption generally, and the most important source of news about the pandemic. Data further reveal that the impact of extensive exposure to fake news headlines about the pandemic was dangerous and could have a deleterious impact. Crucially, this study finds that recalling and believing fake news headlines and using social media as the main source of news, significantly decreases the likelihood of believing credible and real news stories. Finally, this study offers theoretical and empirical background to frame the debate about factors that influence the believability of fake news headlines by contributing and extending the theorization of the amplification hypothesis.

scholarly journals Investigative journalism in a socially networked world

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Gearing
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Investigative Journalism ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Use Of Social Media

This article explores how investigative journalists can join the network society by moving online, collaborating with other reporters and media outlets across regions and across national borders, yet publishing in newspapers which arguably remain the central stage of the public sphere (Carson, 2013). A better understanding of the potential of social media and web-based communications for undertaking journalistic investigations can lead to the adoption of a global perspective, enriching local, regional and national stories (Berglez, 2013). The research and collaboration for a transnational story published simultaneously in The Australian and collaboration in London in 2013 may provide insights into the potential for the use of social media platforms and web-based communications for finding stories, collaborating and following stories into the social media to find leads to follow-up stories. This article questions whether the synergies between mainstream media and social media platforms may yield potentially high impact stories for major masthead newspapers and thus contribute to their sustainability. Connectivity with news sources has always been an important resource for journalists. Online networks may have the potential to expand the range of voices that can be heard and the issues that can be covered.

scholarly journals Use and self-perceived effects of social media before and after the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-national study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Thygesen ◽  
Tore Bonsaksen ◽  
Mariyana Schoultz ◽  
Mary Ruffolo ◽  
Janni Leung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
The Self ◽  
National Study ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Perceived Effects ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Cross National

AbstractTo (i) examine the use of social media before and after the COVID-19 outbreak; (ii) examine the self-perceived impact of social media before and after the outbreak; and (iii) examine whether the self-perceived impacts of social media after the outbreak varied by levels of mental health. A cross-national online survey was conducted in Norway, UK, USA and Australia. Participants (n = 3810) reported which social media they used, how frequently they used them before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, and the degree to which they felt social media contributed to a range of outcomes. The participants also completed the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by chi-square tests and multiple linear regression analysis. Social media were used more frequently after the pandemic outbreak than compared to before the outbreak. Self-perceived effects from using social media increased after the COVID-19 outbreak, and in particular stress and concern for own and others’ health. Emotional distress was associated with being more affected from using social media, in particular in terms of stress and concern for own or others’ health. The use of social media has increased during the coronavirus outbreak, as well as its impacts on people. In particular, the participants reported more stress and health concerns attributed to social media use after the COVID-19 outbreak. People with poor mental health appear to be particularly vulnerable to experiencing more stress and concern related to their use of social media.

In Bangladesh: Direct Control of Media Trumps Fake News

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-922
Author(s):  
K. Anis Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Nonstate Actors ◽  
Direct Control ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Sources ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Form

Mainstream media faces challenges in developed democracies like never before. On one hand, seemingly “free” digital (including social media) options are eroding the market for print drastically. Ads are not so much shifting from print to digital, but apparently simply disappearing. In the face of the pressures stemming from changing economics of the news business—which still has to be gathered at great expense, even if it can be distributed or shared by third parties practically for free (denying the gatherers their share of revenue)—one now encounters a new form of threat that is more political and cultural, namely, “fake news” and state and nonstate actors who wield it to undermine the public's trust in traditional media or news sources.

Fake news on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 363 (6425) ◽  
pp. 374-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nir Grinberg ◽  
Kenneth Joseph ◽  
Lisa Friedland ◽  
Briony Swire-Thompson ◽  
David Lazer
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Political News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Registered Voters

The spread of fake news on social media became a public concern in the United States after the 2016 presidential election. We examined exposure to and sharing of fake news by registered voters on Twitter and found that engagement with fake news sources was extremely concentrated. Only 1% of individuals accounted for 80% of fake news source exposures, and 0.1% accounted for nearly 80% of fake news sources shared. Individuals most likely to engage with fake news sources were conservative leaning, older, and highly engaged with political news. A cluster of fake news sources shared overlapping audiences on the extreme right, but for people across the political spectrum, most political news exposure still came from mainstream media outlets.

Distinguishing the binary of news – fake and real: The illusory truth effect

2020 ◽  
Vol 00 (00) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Yanfang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sem Analysis ◽  
News Story ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Online Experiment ◽  
News Stories ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Truth Effect ◽  
News Source ◽  
Illusory Truth Effect

This study seeks to uncover the effects of source and repetition on the illusory truth effect and the dissemination of fake news on social media with an online experiment. This study found that in a personalized source system where trustworthy traditional news sources and personal contacts converged on social media, repetition has a big influence on the trustworthiness of news source and balance of news story. Although most people intend to share real news stories with balance, the illusory truth effect causes mis-judgement, which makes fake news more likely to go viral than real news. The multi-group SEM analysis of the two groups – without source and with source – showed that readers in the no source group rated the effect of repetition on news evaluation as more significant than the with source group. The findings suggest that the effect of source has diminished in the evaluation of news quality. However, sharers on social media are becoming more influential.

Fake It “Till You Make It”: Debunking Fake News in a Post-Truth America

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-133
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
American People ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Sources ◽  
The Media ◽  
The U.S

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, attacks on the media have been relentless. “Fake news” has become a household term, and repeated attempts to break the trust between reporters and the American people have threatened the validity of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In this article, the authors trace the development of fake news and its impact on contemporary political discourse. They also outline cutting-edge pedagogies designed to assist students in critically evaluating the veracity of various news sources and social media sites.

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