This study examined media credibility ratings as predictors of perceptions of online fake political news exposure (FNE) among internet users in five Arab countries: Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and UAE (N = 4,616). Regression models of media credibility and media use variables explained sizeable amounts of variance in FNE in three countries (14% to 26%). The hypothesis that respondents' credibility ratings of news media would negatively predict FNE, however, was only partially supported-a relationship observed in two of the five countries. The strongest positive correlate of FNE was the belief that fake news online should be blocked. Implications for research on public perceptions of fake news and for research on media credibility are discussed.
This study examined media use and attitudinal predictors of public willingness to censor fake online political news among representative samples in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia (total N = 2880). The study utilized research on the corrective action hypothesis (CAH) and the theory of presumed media influence (TPMI) as frameworks. The CAH holds that an individual’s belief that media are hostile and influential increases the likelihood that the individual will participate in public discourse urging countermeasures. TPMI maintains that the belief that media are influential is associated with attitudes about media, though those attitudes need not be negative. Perceived exposure to fake news online positively predicted willingness to censor fake news in all countries, aligning with some prior research on both the CAH and the TPMI. Facebook use was negatively associated with willingness to censor fake news in two of the countries, while trust in news media was a positive correlate in two countries. Implications for research on both willingness to censor and on fake news are discussed.
Countering conventional theory, this study found that online homophily and heterophily—connectivity with both similar and dissimilar others—are not necessarily countervailing phenomena, among representative surveys of internet users from five Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar, and UAE ( N = 4,198). Respondents who said the Internet has increased their contact with politically and religiously similar people also tended to say it increased their contact with politically and religiously dissimilar people. A four-item scale measuring online political and religious homophily and heterophily was reliable (a = .754 overall; .79 among Arab nationals), and is referred to in this article as an ‘idea chamber’ index. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and inter-item correlations of scale items are two additional tests that affirm the internal consistency of the measure. Implications for research on digital communication are discussed.
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