Presumed Effects of “Fake News” on the Global Warming Discussion in a Cross-Cultural Context

Abstract

“Fake news” on global warming is widely disseminated via social and partisan media. Scientists worry about its effect, because fake news may hurt public support and change policy on climate change. The current study tested the roles of cultural constructs (individualism, collectivism, and uncertainty-avoidance) in predicting the presumed effect of fake news on global warming. Based on 770 answers in four countries, the study found that individualism and collectivism influenced the presumed media effect on others and the third-person effect (self-other disparity of media effect). Moreover, the presumed media effect contributed to both preventive actions such as support for regulation on fake news and corrective actions such as a willingness to donate money. Likewise, the study found that collectivism positively predicted a willingness to donate money, while uncertainty-avoidance predicted support for regulation.

Fake news believability: The effects of political beliefs and espoused cultural values

“…Second, during an early exploration of an IS phenomenon through the cultural lens, IS scholars have opted for the individualism-collectivism dimension [ 77 ]. Third, individualism-collectivism dimension has been used to study fake news (related to climate change) [ 16 ]. Finally, given that this study uses a quantitative survey methodology to test its research question(s), focusing on a few, yet critical, concepts allows us to minimize participant fatigue by keeping the study instrument/questionnaire short.…”

“…Fake news is understood here as “fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent” ([ 7 ], p. 1094). Fake news have been identified in the context of presidential campaigns [ 8 , 9 ], politics [ 10 , 11 ], the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic [ [12] , [13] , [14] ], climate change and global warming [ 15 , 16 ], immigrants [ 17 ], and religion [ 18 , 19 ]. As such, fake news have contributed to the emergence of highly polarized societies [ 20 , 21 ].…”

“…[ 4 ], there are various types of information disorders (e.g., rumors, misinformation, disinformation, slanted information, and hyperpartisan information). Here, we are specifically concerned with the influence that espoused cultural values – at the individual level, as in [ 16 ], instead of at the country level [ 52 ] – might exert on fake news believability while using SNSs. This would be the first study to do so using a repeated-measures design.…”

News Media Credibility Ratings and Perceptions of Online Fake News Exposure in Five Countries

“…Corbu et al (2020), found that respondents rated their own ability to detect fake news as stronger than the ability of others to do so. Hong (2020) found that the presumed influence of media was positively associated with support for government action against fake news about climate change. The presumption that fake news negatively influences other people may strengthen the relationship between FNE and the desire for people and institutions to stop the spread of online fake news.…”

Testing Classical Predictors of Public Willingness to Censor on the Desire to Block Fake News Online

“…The theory of presumed media influence (TPMI) holds that a belief that media have strong effects is associated with media use and attitudes about media (Tal-Or et al, 2010), including individuals’ willingness to censor. Hong (2020) found that presumed influence of media positively predicted support for regulating fake news about climate change, and it was also associated with support for other corrective action, such as donating money to environmental organizations. Cohen and Weimann (2008) found that the perceived influence of reality TV shows was a positive correlate of willingness to censor them.…”