Any surprise that a study shows who's more likely to believe fake news between Republicans and Democrats... guess who?

[yulbsari]

https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/12/identify-fake-news/

[Effably]

Genuinely interesting, although the actual study is more interesting. I would challenge using only 500 people for something like this.

Most findings I consider obvious but with a few surprises.

For example the more extreme a republican is the worse they get at telling truth from lies. That makes sense. Extremism usually is paired with a poor grasp of facts. What is curious is that the more extreme a democrat is the better they get at spotting truth and lies.

To me this bit is the most interesting. " “... In general, Republicans exhibited a ‘true bias’ (a tendency to evaluate items as true) for pro-Republican headlines, but a ‘false bias’ (a tendency to evaluate items as false) for pro-Democrat headlines,” Swire-Thompson says.

“By contrast, Democrats demonstrated a false bias for pro-Democrat headlines and little to no bias for Republican headlines,” she says..."

A truth bias for republicans is again expected. But democrats having no bias for pro/anti-republican news and having a negative bias for democratic news is pretty shocking.

Other obvious findings being that education helps. Older people are better at spotting false stuff but worse at understanding their own ability.

Oh and, apparently, men outperform women to a somewhat significant degree. They didn't even share that finding.

All in all, an interesting study and while all the research is well done and the findings scientifically significant enough to call true, it'd still be wise to not trust it too much.

[DryGermanGuy]

Watch a few Daily Show episodes where Jordan Klepper interviews the rubes of the Maga world. If that doesn’t make you lose faith in humanity, probably nothing will. 😵‍💫🤐😵

[Ez-Bri-Z_v2]

didn't even need to click the link to know that it's the party who feeds off a channel that has admitted to being a lying, entertainment channel rather than an actual news network. A group that circulates conspiracy Facebook posts. A group that believes in Qanon and passes laws banning "chemtrails".

[lightbulb27]

but then there's the other channels caught lying, admitted to it and apologizing and being sued for lots. The whole system is an antagonist that has the divided sides throwing mashed potatoes at each other in an endless food fight.
With AI, we can say goodbye to any hope of knowing what is true.
Establish standards of quality and hold the sides accountable to it, may be only hope. But that's a good reason to have hope in a diety that lived 2000 years ago, because probability humans are going to fix this is low.

[Ez-Bri-Z_v2]

I dont believe they admitted to anything and instead settled in most cases because it was cheaper than fighting it.

I do agree though that media on the whole is set to divide us to distract from the real issue which is rich vs poor. AI is a destructive invention that is going to not only going to further divide us with false videos and images, but end up causing lots of people to be put out of work.

[lightbulb27]

am I misreading this? Either they stand and defend their reporting or they don't. in this case seems they spliced to create a story: apnews.com/.../britain-bbc-misleading-edit-trump-lawsuit-73a613283de952f5af08fa8ec4d0ca67

Agree with everything else you said. Its corporate vs the rest that are predated, for the good of keeping the host alive. USA is sooooo corrupt now. I wish I could get you to listen to my congressman, what I heard live the other day... then you see the problem and why I cannot be a democrat, not right now. but neither side has ever been good. they are intentionally screwing society. One thing that should be taught at every grade level... "Caveat Emptor"!

[DrPepper12]

Let me take a guess. It's the more religious group...

Religiousity / faith IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF ACCEPTANCE WITHOUT EVIDENCE AND EVEN IN SPITE OF THE EVIDENCE. It's not rational, logical or even up for discussion in ANY intelligible way. Grow up "conservative" humans.

[OneViewpoint]

This study sampled the general population. What I want to see is a study at say, 10 samples taken at MAGA rallies. Compare that to the study for the general population. THAT would be an eye opener. Not the outcome. Everyone knows these people are the dumbest turds in our society. But quantifying how much dumber would be hilarious.

[Surely]

I have seen Trump make speeches in real time and by the time the Democrats news media played it. It was so edited. The meaning was the opposite. Without watching the video. I would say that the Democrats were more gullible.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I don't support either political party and I think we need to ban both of them.

[noohair]

Why should I believe this university outlet?

[beefcakebradybatson]

Hmmmm...