Much research on misinformation has focused on claims that challenge mainstream views. This study instead examines misinformation that is aligned with dominant narratives in mainstream news media. It uses an epistemically grounded definition of misinformation and a measurement approach that accounts for the complexity of politically relevant misinformation. The analysis centers on 20 false or misleading claims about major international issues, evaluated by a sample of 1590 survey respondents in German-speaking Switzerland. Across these claims, the population-weighted share of “fully agree” responses ranged from 6% to 50%. The probability of acceptance of misinformation was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with several factors: male gender (+0.04); medium or higher education (−0.06 and −0.05, respectively); more than 30 min of daily news consumption, compared with less (+0.06); identification with Green (+0.09) and Liberal party (+0.07, relative to Center party); medium trust in government (−0.04), relative to high trust; and a non-mainstream primary news source (−0.28), relative to public television. A similar pattern emerges for the subset of the claims that had been publicly corrected. Notable differences from patterns reported for non-mainstream misinformation highlight the importance of the type of misinformation under study. Taken together—and in light of evidence that news consumers expect truthful and impartial information—these findings suggest that misinformation in mainstream news media warrants greater attention in both research and regulatory policy.
Felix Schläpfer (Thu,) studied this question.