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The consequences of online partisan media
Andrew M Guess1,2, Pablo Barberá3, Simon Munzert4
1Department of Politics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; aguess@princeton.edu.
Summary
Exposure to partisan news significantly impacts media trust but has limited immediate effects on opinions. This study reveals subtle, long-term dynamics of online news consumption on societal polarization.
Area of Science:
- Computational Social Science
- Political Communication
- Media Psychology
Background:
- Societal polarization is a growing concern, with ideologically extreme media potentially exacerbating divisions.
- Understanding the causal impact of partisan news exposure on public opinion and media trust is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of ideologically extreme media in societal polarization.
- To measure the effects of increased exposure to partisan news on participants' opinions, affect, and media trust.
Main Methods:
- A randomized longitudinal field experiment with 1,037 participants in a nationally representative online panel survey.
- Incentivized participants to alter news consumption (left-leaning HuffPost or right-leaning Fox News) during the 2018 US midterm election.
- Tracked web visits (≈19 million) and conducted follow-up surveys up to 1 year later.
Main Results:
- Changes in news consumption persisted for at least 8 weeks.
- Greater exposure to partisan news led to short-lived increases in website visits and event knowledge.
- Little evidence of direct impact on opinions or affect was found after adjusting for multiple comparisons.
Conclusions:
- While direct consequences of online partisan media on opinions are limited, a lasting decrease in trust in mainstream media was observed up to 1 year later.
- Findings suggest subtle, cumulative dynamics may influence societal polarization.
- The study highlights the power of combining experimentation with computational social science for long-term impact analysis.
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