The prevailing logic in in the present day’s political world is that polarization is worsening as a result of folks reside in media echo chambers the place they’re solely uncovered to retailers that mirror their views. People who reside in echo chambers come to mistrust any opinions exterior their bubbles, particularly after they’re not uncovered to conflicting data. This creates a situation the place the particular person turns into more and more entrenched in their worldview.
One would assume that after an individual turns into totally entrenched in an echo chamber, they’ve little probability of adjusting their views. However, a brand new working paper by researchers at UC Berkley and Yale universities has discovered that when individuals are faraway from their bubbles, there’s an opportunity they’ll change their minds.
What occurred when Fox News viewers watched NCS for a month
David Broockman of UC Berkeley and Joshua Kalla of Yale carried out a research in fall 2020, publishing their findings in 2022, during which they paid common Fox News viewers $15 an hour to watch NCS for round seven hours every week for a month. The researchers then surveyed them about their political views and information of present occasions.
The research is titled “The manifold effects of partisan media on viewers’ beliefs and attitudes: A field experiment with Fox News viewers.” It was carried out in fall 2020, through the top of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lead-up to the presidential election.
When the members were polled, researchers discovered that they were 5 proportion factors extra probably to consider that folks endure from lengthy COVID, 6 factors extra probably to assume that different international locations did a greater job of controlling the virus, and 7 factors extra probably to assist voting by mail.
“NCS provided extensive coverage of COVID-19, which included information about the severity of the COVID-19 crisis and poor aspects of Trump’s performance handling COVID-19. Fox News covered COVID-19 much less,” said the study.
How their views on Trump and police changed
After Fox viewers switched to NCS, their opinions on the social justice protests taking place on the time changed. The switchers were 10 factors much less probably to assume that Biden supporters were comfortable when police received shot and 13 factors much less probably to consider that if Biden will get elected, “we’ll see many more police get shot by Black Lives Matter activists.”
Many of the members additionally realized that when it got here to Trump, they weren’t getting the entire story. After switching to a gradual weight-reduction plan of NCS they were much less probably to agree that “if Donald Trump did something bad, Fox News would discuss it.”
“Despite regular Fox viewers being largely strong partisans, we found manifold effects of changing the slant of their media diets on their factual beliefs, attitudes, perceptions of issues’ importance, and overall political views,” the authors of the research mentioned.
What the research means for political polarization in America
The research exhibits that Fox News isn’t only a media outlet that affirms its viewers’ worldviews; it additionally feeds them a distorted model of actuality that pushes them towards extra excessive opinions. The excellent news is that a few of these folks will be changed when uncovered to higher data. It also needs to be famous that Fox News viewers aren’t the one ones residing in data bubbles and that there are many ideological traps that ensnare folks on the left as properly.
“Partisan media aren’t just putting a thumb on the scale for their side,” Broockman said. “They’re also hiding information that voters need to hold politicians accountable. That’s not just good for their side and bad for the other side — it’s bad for democracy, and for all of us.”
Two months after the research, it was discovered that the Fox News viewers reverted to their opinions earlier than their publicity to NCS. Still, Broockman believes that the research affords some hope in a time of deep political polarization. “Even among the most orthodox partisans and partisan media viewers,” he mentioned, according to Berkeley, “those who receive a sustained diet of information that helps them see the bigger picture actually are open-minded enough to understand that their side isn’t doing a perfect job, either.”
The research ought to give everybody hope that every one shouldn’t be misplaced and that America’s political divide might not be unattainable to bridge.
This article initially appeared 4 years in the past. It has been up to date.
The submit Fox News viewers were paid to watch NCS and it actually changed their views appeared first on Upworthy.