Justifying an invasion

Autor(en)

Jan Zilinsky, Yannis Theocharis, Franziska Pradel-Sinaci, Marina Tulin, Claes de Vreese, Toril Aalberg, Ana S. Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, Frank Esser, Luisa Gehle , Denis Halagiera, Michael Hameleers, David Nicolas Hopmann, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Christian Schemer, Václav Stetka, Jesper Strömbäck, Ludovic Terren, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Agnieszka Stępińska, Peter van Aelst, Alon Zoizner

Abstrakt

Conventional wisdom suggests that social media, especially when used by authoritarian powers with nefarious aims, leaves citizens of democratic countries vulnerable to psychological influence campaigns. But such concerns overlook predispositions among recipients of false claims to reject (or to endorse) conspiratorial narratives. Analyzing responses from a survey fielded in 19 countries, we find that it is a preexisting conspiracy outlook at the individual level, more so than media diets, which consistently predicts rating Russia’s pretenses for the invasion as more accurate. In all countries, individuals who view the world in general with a conspiratorial mindset are more likely to believe war-related disinformation. Receiving news via YouTube, Facebook, or TikTok is also associated with greater belief in Russian narratives justifying the invasion in several countries, but these relationships are weaker compared to those observed for conspiracy thinking. Without downplaying a potential positive role for media interventions, the findings highlight the importance of a deeper understanding of the underlying causes of conspiratorial thinking.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

Technische Universität München, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) , Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, University of Bucharest, Universität Zürich (UZH), Adam Mickiewicz University, Audencia Business School, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, University of Gothenburg, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Loughborough University, University of Antwerp, University of Haifa

Journal

Political Communication

Band

41

Seiten

965-986

Anzahl der Seiten

22

ISSN

1058-4609

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2352483

Publikationsdatum

05-2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Communication, Sociology and Political Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/b176d23e-3bed-415f-b842-4b1fd4eb2a4e