Do people demand fact-checked news? Evidence from US Democrats

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Dokumenter

In a large-scale online experiment with U.S. Democrats, we examine how the demand for a newsletter about an economic relief plan changes when the newsletter content is fact-checked. We first document an overall muted demand for fact-checking when the newsletter features stories from an ideologically aligned source, even though fact-checking increases the perceived accuracy of the newsletter. The aver-age impact of fact-checking masks substantial heterogeneity by ideology: fact-checking reduces demand among Democrats with strong ideological views and increases demand among ideologically moderate Democrats. Furthermore, fact-checking increases demand among all Democrats when the newsletter features stories from an ideologically non-aligned source.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer104549
TidsskriftJournal of Public Economics
Vol/bind205
Antal sider10
ISSN0047-2727
DOI
StatusUdgivet - jan. 2022

ID: 321653299