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)
- Technische Universität München, 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, Loughborough University, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, University of Gothenburg, University of Haifa
- Journal
- European Journal of Political Research
- 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://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/mistakenly-misinformed-or-intentionally-deceived(082831f9-093c-4f32-a3ea-802105be8a5a).html