Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/235431 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 9061
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Using a large-scale online experiment with more than 8,000 U.S. respondents, we examine how the demand for a politics newsletter changes when the newsletter content is fact-checked. We first document an overall muted demand for fact-checking when the newsletter features stories from an ideologically aligned source, even though fact-checking increases the perceived accuracy of the newsletter. The average impact of fact-checking masks substantial heterogeneity by ideology: fact-checking reduces demand among respondents with strong ideological views and increases demand among ideologically moderate respondents. Furthermore, fact-checking increases demand among all respondents when the newsletter features stories from an ideologically non-aligned source.
Subjects: 
fact-checking
news consumption
information
media bias
belief polarization
JEL: 
D83
D91
L82
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.