Politicization of fake news debates and citizen attitudes towards fake news and its regulation

IF 2.7 2区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Journalism Pub Date : 2024-01-30 DOI:10.1177/14648849241231061

Ki Deuk Hyun, Mihye Seo, Gunho Lee

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

As fake news becomes a pressing social concern, governments from many countries have considered legislation against fake news. This study examined how citizens formed opinions about fake news and an anti-fake news bill in South Korea where political elites provide polarized discourse regarding fake news and associated regulatory politics. Progressive leaders more intensely criticized fake news and proposed an anti-fake news bill whereas conservative leaders vehemently opposed the bill. The analysis of survey data showed that elite polarization may affect citizens’ perceptions of fake news and attitudes toward anti-fake news legislation. Strong partisans tended to believe that fake news is more hostile toward their in-group and had stronger third-person perceptions, and such perceptions were positively related to the support of anti-fake news legislation. Moreover, progressive voters tended to have stronger hostile and third-person perceptions than conservative counterparts, reflecting endorsement of their in-group leaders’ positions. News reception about the bill further increased the gap in the level of support for the bill between progressive and conservative citizens.

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假新闻辩论的政治化以及公民对假新闻及其监管的态度

随着假新闻成为一个紧迫的社会问题，许多国家的政府都在考虑针对假新闻立法。在韩国，政治精英们对假新闻和相关的监管政治进行了两极分化的讨论，本研究考察了韩国公民如何形成对假新闻和反假新闻法案的看法。进步派领导人更强烈地批评假新闻并提出反假新闻法案，而保守派领导人则强烈反对该法案。对调查数据的分析表明，精英两极分化可能会影响公民对假新闻的看法以及对反假新闻立法的态度。强烈的党派倾向于认为假新闻对其内部群体更具敌意，并具有更强烈的第三人称观念，这种观念与反假新闻立法的支持率呈正相关。此外，与保守派选民相比，进步派选民往往具有更强的敌意和第三人称观念，这反映出他们认可本群体领导人的立场。有关该法案的新闻报道进一步拉大了进步和保守派公民对该法案支持程度的差距。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journalism COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

7.90

自引率

10.30%

发文量

123

期刊介绍： Journalism is a major international, peer-reviewed journal that provides a dedicated forum for articles from the growing community of academic researchers and critical practitioners with an interest in journalism. The journal is interdisciplinary and publishes both theoretical and empirical work and contributes to the social, economic, political, cultural and practical understanding of journalism. It includes contributions on current developments and historical changes within journalism.