Mistakenly misinformed or intentionally deceived?
- Author(s)
- Michael Hameleers, Marina Tulin, Claes de Vreese, Toril Aalberg, Peter van Aelst, Ana S. Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, Patrick van Erkel, Frank Esser, Luisa Gehle , Denis Halagiera, David Nicolas Hopmann, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Christine Meltzer, Sabina Mihelj, Christian Schemer, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Agnieszka Stępińska, Václav Stetka, Jesper Strömbäck, Ludovic Terren, Yannis Theocharis, Alon Zoizner
- Abstract
In information environments characterized by institutional distrust, fragmentation and the widespread dissemination of conspiracies and disinformation, citizens perceive misinformation as a salient and threatening issue. Especially amidst disruptive events and crises, news users are likely to believe that information is inaccurate or deceptive. Using an original 19-country comparative survey study across diverse regions in the world (N = 19,037), we find that news users are likely to regard information on the Russian war in Ukraine as false. They are more likely to attribute false information to deliberative deception than to a lack of access to the war area or inaccurate expert knowledge. Russian sources are substantially more likely to be blamed for falsehoods than Ukrainian or Western sources – but these attribution biases depend on a country's position on the war. Our findings reveal that people mostly believe that falsehoods are intended to deceive them, and selectively associate misinformation with the opposed camp.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- External organisation(s)
- University of Amsterdam (UvA), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) , University of Antwerp, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, University of Bucharest, Universität Zürich (UZH), Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Adam Mickiewicz University, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Audencia Business School, University of Silesia in Katowice, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Loughborough University, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, University of Gothenburg, Technische Universität München, University of Haifa
- Journal
- European Journal of Political Research
- Volume
- 63
- Pages
- 1642 – 1654
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 0304-4130
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12646
- Publication date
- 2023
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508007 Communication science, 506007 International relations
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/082831f9-093c-4f32-a3ea-802105be8a5a