Does Biased News Have a ‘Time Bomb’ Effect?
Very interesting stuff. Enjoy!
Click Here To Read: Does Biased News Have a ‘Time Bomb’ Effect?
Quick Introduction: (Via Miller Mccune)
A European study shows that, over time, even the most sophisticated readers can be manipulated.
Introduction (Via Miller Mccune)
here’s nobody more cynical about the media than your average European.
Only 12 percent of Europeans claim to trust the media, compared to 15 percent of North Americans, 29 percent of Pacific Asians and 48 percent of Africans, the BBC has found.
Yet new research out of the London School of Economics and Political Science suggests that even the most hardened Europeans may succumb to media manipulation and change their political views if they are bombarded long enough with biased news.
Michael Bruter, a senior lecturer in European politics at the school, fed a steady diet of slanted newsletters about Europe and the European Union — either all good news or all bad — to 1,200 citizens of six countries over two years.
Favorite Excerpts (Via Miller Mccune)
Over time, Bruter found, and without exception, the readers subconsciously adopted the bias to varying degrees and changed their view of the EU and of themselves as Europeans, a few of them in the extreme. Surprisingly, they didn’t register any change right after the newsletters stopped — not until full six months later, when they had obviously let down their guard.
Bruter calls this the “time bomb” effect of one-sided news. His study paints a blunt picture of how cynicism, far from inoculating citizens to resist political persuasion, merely delays the impact.
“By contrast, my findings suggest that even sophisticated audiences are indeed susceptible to manipulation,” he said. “As such, the big lesson for the media is that it does have a responsibility.”
Bruter became intrigued with the question of media and identity after the citizens of France and the Netherlands voted down a proposed constitution for the European Union in 2005. This setback, he said, made it imperative to figure out whether the media was influencing “why some citizens feel more European than others.”
“The effect of news ultimately kicks in and so influences citizens’ European identity with remarkable efficiency in the long term,” he said.
Click Here To Read: Does Biased News Have a ‘Time Bomb’ Effect?
