Access to professional media reduces belief in fake news – 10/20/2023 – Power

Consuming news conveyed by professional media in Brazil made people believe less in electoral disinformation in the 2022 presidential election, indicates a study that will be published in the British Public Opinion Quarterly.

The article “The nexus of electoral disinformation: how news consumption, platform use and trust in the news influence belief in electoral disinformation” monitored the online behavior of 2,200 Brazilians and collected data on what content they consumed over the 14 weeks prior , during and after the elections.

In addition, qualitative research, with interviews, was carried out with internet users to determine how different types of online content related to belief in electoral misinformation in 2022.

The study points out that exposure to content from vehicles classified as “traditional media” – defined as those that existed before the internet and occupy a central place in the country’s media ecosystem – is associated with lower levels of belief in electoral disinformation. Among the vehicles accessed were SheetO Estado de S. Paulo, Band, BBC Brasil, CNN Brasil, G1, Gazeta do Povo, Globo, O Globo and Jovem Pan.

The use of content from media outlets called digital natives (those that had their origins online and are sometimes openly partisan) and from internet platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google, Telegram and TikTok, is not associated with any change in beliefs in false information. Among the digital natives monitored were Brasil 247, Brasil Sem Medo, Diário do Centro do Mundo, Jornal da Cidade Online, Metrópoles and Antagonista.

The article is led by Brazilian Camila Mont’Alverne, post-doctoral researcher at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, at the University of Oxford, together with Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the institute, and other authors.

“People’s greater degree of trust in news from traditional media enhances the positive effects of consuming content from these outlets during the campaign, which allows us to say that access to traditional media helped to contain the effects of electoral misinformation,” said Mont’ Alverne Sheet.

“Our findings show how consumption of and trust in professionally produced news can help protect the electoral process,” the study states.

To select participants, researchers partnered with public opinion firm Netquest to have a demographically balanced sample. However, they make the reservation that, as internet access in Brazil is lower among low-income populations, the sampling tends to be biased towards people with higher income and education.

To assess belief in electoral misinformation, researchers asked participants about the veracity of four false statements that circulated during the election period: votes are counted by the Superior Electoral Court in a secret room; it is impossible to audit electronic voting machines in Brazil; there is a secret document that reveals flaws in the counting of votes in the 2018 election and there is software that can change votes inside electronic voting machines.

The researchers compared these responses with the type of content most consumed by those surveyed – professional media, digital native media or platforms.

They also asked those surveyed whether they trusted information from the media in general and from certain outlets, and cross-referenced the information to determine to what extent trust in news was related to belief in misinformation.

The more people accessed professional media content, the less they believed fake news about the election. Access to native digital media and digital platforms is not related to changes in the level of belief in fake news.

Furthermore, the lower the trust in professional media outlets, the more people believed in fake news.

“The study shows the fundamental role played by journalistic institutions in countering attempts by politicians to contest the election results by spreading misinformation, which, in Brazil, led to a wave of violence,” the study states.