The Influence of Political Ideology on Fake News Belief: The Portuguese Case

[EN] The relationship between a subject’s ideological persuasion with the belief and spread of fake news is the object of our study. Departing from a left- vs. right-wing framework, a questionnaire sought to position subjects on this political-ideological spectrum and demanded them to evaluate five...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Baptista, João Pedro, Correia, Elisete, Gradim, Anabela, Piñeiro-Naval, Valeriano
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repositorio:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/153313
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/153313
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Political bias
Fake news
Disinformation
Left-right dimension
63 Sociología
59 Ciencia Política
Descrição
Resumo:[EN] The relationship between a subject’s ideological persuasion with the belief and spread of fake news is the object of our study. Departing from a left- vs. right-wing framework, a questionnaire sought to position subjects on this political-ideological spectrum and demanded them to evaluate five pro-left and pro-right fake and real news, totaling 20 informational products. The results show the belief and dissemination of (fake) news are related to the political ideology of the participants, with right-wing subjects exhibiting a greater tendency to accept fake news, regardless of whether it is pro-left or pro-right fake news. These findings contradict the confirmation bias and may suggest that a greater influence of factors such as age, the level of digital news literacy and psychological aspects in the judgment of fake news are at play. Older and less educated respondents indicated they believed and would disseminate fake news at greater rates. Regardless of the ideology they favor, the Portuguese attributed higher credibility to the sample’s real news, a fact that can be meaningful regarding the fight against disinformation in Portugal and elsewhere.