Mock News Research Articles

Uncovering coordinated cross-platform information operations: Threatening the integrity of the 2024 U.S. presidential election

Information operations (IOs) pose a significant threat to the integrity of democratic processes, with the potential to influence election-related online discourse. In anticipation of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, we present a study aimed at uncovering the digital traces of coordinated IOs on X (formerly Twitter). Using our machine learning framework for detecting online coordination, we analyze a dataset comprising election-related conversations on X from May to July 2024. This reveals a network of coordinated inauthentic actors, displaying notable similarities in their link-sharing behaviors. Our analysis shows concerted efforts by these accounts to disseminate misleading, redundant, and biased information across the Web through a coordinated cross-platform information operation: The links shared by this network frequently direct users to other social media platforms or mock news sites featuring low-quality political content and, in turn, promoting the same X and YouTube accounts. Members of this network also shared deceptive images generated by AI, accompanied by language attacking political figures and symbolic imagery intended to convey power and dominance. While X has suspended or restricted a subset of these accounts, 75 percent ofthe coordinated network remains active, garnering substantial traction over time: The suspicious Web sites promoted by this coordinated network are shared thousands of times per day by the X user base, further amplifying their reach and potential impact. Our findings underscore the critical role of developing computational models to scale up the detection of threats on large social media platforms, and emphasize the broader implications of these techniques to detect IOs across the wider Web.

The Effect of Parent-Targeted Obesity Messaging on Parental Weight Talk Intention: A Randomized Controlled Experiment

ABSTRACT It is unknown if parent-targeted health messages about childhood obesity affect parental weight communication with children (e.g., encouraging a child to diet). This randomized, controlled, online experiment assessed the effects of exposure to different message frames on parental intentions to 1) engage in weight communication with their child and, 2) follow the health advice in the message. A diverse sample of U.S. parents (N = 452) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) a mock news article emphasizing childhood obesity (weight-framed message) with health behavior advice for parents; 2) an article with identical health behavior advice for parents, but framed within the context of improving children’s school performance (school-framed message); and 3) a no-treatment control group. Following message exposure, parents completed online surveys assessing their intention to engage in weight communication and the recommended health behaviors. Hierarchical linear regression was used to assess the relationship between experimental condition and the outcome variables. Parents in the weight-frame condition were significantly more likely to report intention to engage in weight communication with their child than parents in the control group, while there was no difference between the school-frame condition and the control group. Parents in both message conditions were equally likely to report intention to adopt the health advice, but parental weight-based self-stigma moderated the relationships. Parent-targeted health advice that features childhood obesity may encourage parents to engage in weight communication with their children. Our findings can inform the development of health messages targeting parents about children’s weight-related health.

Tuning Out (Political and Science) News? A Selective Exposure Study of the News Finds Me Perception

Individuals harboring perceptions that the “news will find me” (NFM) tend to be less active consuming traditional media, preferring news online and on social media. NFM has also been linked with lower political knowledge and political participation over time. What remains to be seen, however, is whether high-NFM individuals are in fact less likely to expose themselves to news once they do encounter it online. This preregistered study fills this gap in the literature by unobtrusively logging selection behaviors while U.S. adults browsed a mock news website featuring various hard and soft news stories. Consistent with our hypothesizing, NFM was associated with greater exposure to soft news. Additionally, we examined whether genre-specific NFM beliefs would predict less exposure to those news genres. We found support for this hypothesis in the context of science news, but for political news, this relationship depended on the news stories presented.

Satire as the Comic Public Sphere: Postmodern “Truthiness” and Civic Engagement

Satire as the Comic Public Sphere: Postmodern “Truthiness” and Civic Engagement

Understanding community attitudes toward miscarriages of justice: the role of social characteristics on perceptions of wrongfully convicted exonerees

ABSTRACT Objective: Not all exonerees are perceived equally. Attitudes toward exonerees are negatively impacted by social characteristics, such as race and criminal history; providing significant challenges for exonerees attempting to reintegrate into the community. The present study examined whether exoneree race, gender and criminal history influenced ratings of desired social distance. Method: A community sample of 1043 females and males completed an online survey. Participants were asked to read a vignette of a mock news article that described a wrongful conviction, then complete a desired social distance scale. Exoneree gender, race and criminal history were manipulated in the news article, with a minimum of 120 participants randomised to eight vignette conditions. Results: Exoneree race and the presence of a prior criminal history had significant main effects on participant attitudes regarding desired social distance. There were no interactions between exoneree gender, race and priors, but differences did emerge suggesting differential views of desired social distance for females and older participants when the exoneree had a prior offence. Conclusion: Social characteristics, demographics and individual differences may be particularly important in forming community attitudes toward wrongful conviction. This holds important implications for exoneree reintegration and community attitudes toward the Australian criminal justice system.

Looking Hateworthy: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Chinese Phenotypicality and COVID-19-Related Prejudice and Discrimination

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been an increasing number of hate crimes perpetrated against Chinese and non-Chinese Asian Americans. Some hate incidents suggest that Chinese Asian Americans have been mainly targeted followed by non-Chinese Asian Americans. The present study examined the influence of victim Chinese phenotypicality (CP) and participant individual differences on COVID-19-related prejudice and discrimination. Participants were presented with a mock news story detailing a restaurant employee (varying in CP) who tested positive for COVID-19 but went to work despite warnings to quarantine and allegedly spread COVID-19 to other employees and customers. CP was manipulated through photographs embedded within the mock news story of the employee (White (control) vs. Low CP vs. High CP). After reading the news story, participants completed measures of prejudice and discrimination endorsement along with measures of individual differences. Results revealed that CP influenced prejudice and support for discrimination, but only for individuals with certain characteristics (e.g., low income). The findings highlight individual difference characteristics among perpetrators of prejudice and discrimination against Asian Americans, in addition to phenotypic variations among those who may be victims of hate related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

P159 A Randomized Experiment Examining the Role of Weight-Focused Message Framing on Parental Weight Talk Among Diverse Parents

<h3>Background</h3> Health messages framed within the context of controlling body weight can negatively impact motivation to make health changes. However, it is unknown how health messages featuring childhood obesity affects parental "weight talk" behaviors (e.g., encouraging a child to lose weight). <h3>Objective</h3> Assess the effects of exposure to parent-targeted health advice that emphasizes either a weight-framed or non-weight framed message on parental intentions to engage in weight talk. <h3>Study Design, Settings, Participants</h3> Randomized, controlled, online experiment in which 452 parents with a child between the ages of 6 and 17 were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a mock news article with health advice for parents emphasizing obesity (weight-framed message); identical health advice but framed within the context of improving children's school performance (school-framed message); and control group. <h3>Measurable Outcome/Analysis</h3> Survey questions assessed demographics, anthropometrics, and intention to engage in weight talk (four-item scale; 1="extremely unlikely" to 7="extremely likely"; e.g. "In the next 12 months, how likely is it that you will have a conversation with your child about his/her weight or size?"). Linear regression was used to assess the relationship between experimental condition and intention to engage in weight talk, adjusting for parental BMI, child BMI percentile, parent and child gender, parent and child age, race/ethnicity, income, education, and experienced weight stigma. <h3>Results</h3> Parents were diverse regarding gender (60% mothers), race/ethnicity (32% White, 34% Black, 34% Hispanic), income, and BMI category. Parents in the weight-frame condition were significantly more likely to report intention to engage in weight-focused conversations with their child than participants in the control group (B = .60, β = .15, <i>P =</i> 0.003), while there was no significant difference between the school-frame condition and the control group. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Parent-targeted health advice that features childhood obesity prevention may inadvertently encourage parents to engage in weight talk with their children. Public health interventions should reconsider focusing on body weight in health campaigns targeting parents. <h3>Funding</h3> Rudd Foundation; Christine N. Witzel Award

Satire as the Comic Public Sphere: Postmodern “Truthiness” and Civic Engagement

Satire as the Comic Public Sphere: Postmodern “Truthiness” and Civic Engagement

The effect of message modality on memory for political disinformation: Lessons from the 2021 U.S capitol riots

Using the context of the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, an attack on the U.S Congress that was in response to the alleged voter fraud perpetuated by high profile Republicans, this study sought to uncover the differences in content memory (i.e., free recall and recognition) scores for both factually correct and disinformation news content. In addition, it also explored how exposure to different message modalities (i.e., text, image, and video) may exacerbate the recall and recollection of news content, especially when presented with purposely misleading information. An online experiment (n = 568) using manipulated mock news articles was conducted to gauge participants' content memory for participants exposed to either factually correct or disinformation news content. Findings showcase that while there is no significant difference in content memory scores between those exposed to disinformation and factually correct news, partisans might be more tempted to purposely remember story details that support their party regardless of whether those details are accurate. Moreover, while modality may help in aiding one's memory for information, other factors such as expectancy-violation should be integrated with existing multimedia learning theories when applying the cognitive processing logic of modality to news consumption.

Ideology Matters: The Influence of Competing Message Framings on Public Attitudes toward Humanitarian Interventions

This study assessed the effects of different message framing strategies on average Americans’ attitude towards interventions in humanitarian crises abroad. Two survey experiments were conducted via Qualtrics between late 2019 and early 2020, where participants were randomly assigned to read a mock news story about a foreign humanitarian crisis written using one of the three framing techniques. Results of both studies indicated that the framing effect on respondents’ support for intervention interacted with ones’ political ideology and prompted distinctive reactions among different populations. Most intriguingly, the results of Study 2, which employed a non-student sample and a secondary frame, suggested that the specific order of message framings also influences public opinion towards humanitarian intervention. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature on the persuasiveness of message design and framing in the context of military humanitarian interventions (MHI). Accordingly, news organizations and policymakers are encouraged to consider these findings in specific contexts.

Persuasive Effects of Metaphors Regarding Gene-Editing in Agriculture

Gene-editing provides an opportunity to address the significant challenges of population growth and climate change that impact food production. Given the important role of gene-editing in our food system, exploring opportunities to persuade public acceptance of the technology is needed. The purpose of this study was to investigate persuasive effects of metaphorical concepts regarding gene-editing in agriculture. The Elaboration Likelihood Model was used as the conceptual framework. Metaphors stand to influence public acceptance because metaphors encourage issue-relevant thinking and enhance persuasion. A quantitative, randomized, between-subjects, experimental research design was delivered via an online survey to a nationally representative sample of U.S. residents. The manipulation was four mock news articles differentiated by metaphorical concept for gene-editing in agriculture (creation versus text editor versus tool versus control). Even when controlling for confounding variables, the results indicated no significant differences between the treatments on issue-relevant thinking or willingness to share the article on social media. Future research should explore the impact of metaphorical concepts on attitude and other behavioral outcomes associated with elaboration.

Mock News: On the discourse of mocking in U.S. televised political discussions

American televised political shows are under tremendous pressure to succeed within an economic model that requires maximizing viewership. In response to this growing financial pressure, political shows invite contentious guests to discuss current events and issues. Such discussions are often confrontational, making a mockery of the responsibility the news industry has in disseminating information in an impartial and insightful way. Although outrage is a common discourse feature of televised political shows, little is known about what this language looks like and how it is used to argue ideological positions. To this end, drawing from critical discourse analysis, this study investigates the multidimensional and multifunctional aspects of mocking, which is a type of outrage discourse. The findings show that mocking is an important argumentative tool for panel members, which occurs in the turn following an opposing viewpoint and is used to carry out a range of actions, including expressing disagreement, establishing a competing ideological position, and refuting an idea based on an opponent’s political identity, to name a few. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how mocking and mock news feed into partisan ideologies, creating both tribalism and skepticism within society.

Mixing “Nonsense with Substance”: Negotiating Satirical and Investigative Journalism Hybrid Genre in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Journalism has witnessed steady transformations over the years. Peripheral actors’ intrusion into the mainstream journalism practice has added extra layers to our understanding of these changes. This study examines the interplay between satirical journalism and investigative journalism in Nigerian setting. The study employs a semistructured interview to evaluate how satirical and investigative journalism genres blend. Through this process, the study interrogates how the hybridity of this genre is negotiated in an African/Nigerian setting. Ten satirists (participants) provided a self-assessment of their production process. The study demonstrates that Nigerian satirical shows such as Pararan Mock News and Keepin it Real with Adeola fill a gap in Nigerian journalism where many news organisations are not critical of the government. This type of satire performs the watchdog role of journalism by calling the powerful to account through humour and jokes. As such, the line between satirical journalism and mainstream journalism keeps blurring. Although satirical journalism is evolving in Nigeria, scholarship in this area should consider it as a genuine source of (political) information and an important form of public sense-making and knowledge production. The taxonomy of satirical journalism emerging from this study includes critical, entertainment, advocacy and investigative satire. In all, this study has established that journalism and comedy practice could blend together in news satire to create a hybrid genre that combines “substance” and “nonsense” to interrogate societal anomalies.

The Story Behind the Story: Examining Transparency About the Journalistic Process and News Outlet Credibility

ABSTRACT This three-study project sought to test how news organizations can boost perceptions of credibility of their news outlet by improving journalistic transparency. Three experiments (Study 1: n = 753; Study 2: n = 599; Study 3: n = 321) tested whether adding a transparency box to news stories that explained why and how journalists covered each story would improve credibility perceptions. Study 1 used a mock news site, and the box did not increase credibility perceptions. Study 2 made the box more prominent and used the real audiences of two news sites, USA TODAY and the Tennessean, and the box increased credibility perceptions. Study 3 used a less prominent box on the real audiences of three McClatchy newspapers, and the box did not increase credibility perceptions regardless of where it was placed on the news story. Results suggest transparency boxes may have limited influence on news outlet credibility, but they must be very prominent to have an effect and do not work consistently.

Reducing Affective Polarization: Warm Group Relations or Policy Compromise?

Hostility between rival political partisans, referred to as affective polarization, has increased in the United States over the last several decades generating considerable interest in its reduction. The current study examines two distinct sets of factors that potentially reduce affective polarization, drawn respectively from a group‐based and a policy‐based model of its origins. Specifically, we contrast the degree to which warm social relations and policy compromise reduce affective polarization. In two experimental studies (N = 937), respondents read a mock news story about an observed interaction between Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, and Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader. The leaders either interact in a warm or hostile manner and independently compromise, or fail to compromise, on immigration matters. In both studies, warm leader relations reduced affective polarization whereas policy compromise did not. We consider the implications of these findings for the study of affective polarization and its reduction.

Impact of Race/Ethnicity, Veteran Status, and Place of Birth on Attitudes Towards Welfare Recipients: An Experimental Approach.

The current study explored the differences in the public's attitudes and emotions towards welfare recipients based on their race/ethnicity, birthplace, and veteran status. Participants read a mock news story created for the current study about a woman labeled as a "welfare queen" who was receiving assistance, but persuaded the reader to be sympathetic to her case. The mock news story varied based on the race/ethnicity, veteran status, and birthplace of the welfare recipient. Participants assessed the welfare recipient on various evaluative measures. A 4 (race/ethnicity: White/Black/Hispanic/Asian) × 2 (veteran status: veteran/not veteran) × 2 (country of origin: born in the US/not born in the US) between-subjects ANOVA was performed on the attitude and personality evaluations of the welfare recipient. The general pattern of results showed that welfare recipients were evaluated more positively when they were veterans, born in the United States, or were White or Asian. Conversely, the public evaluated the welfare recipient more negatively or held more aversive emotions towards them when they were Hispanic, Black, not born in the United States, or not a veteran. This research adds to the psychological literature and nonprofit sector by testing the persistence of stereotypes on the perception of individual welfare recipients.

How to Communicate Food Safety after Radiological Contamination: The Effectiveness of Numerical and Narrative News Messages.

Food risk and the safety of foodstuffs in the aftermath of contamination are highly sensitive issues to communicate. Food risks receive extensive attention from the news media, which requires messages to be carefully drafted to minimize harm and avoid unnecessary boycotts. Once a food risk is deemed eliminated, communication efforts must rebuild trust among consumers. The latter is a particularly difficult task after radiological contamination. This study tests whether numerical messages, narrative messages, or messages combining both elements are more effective in persuading the public to consume foodstuffs from Fukushima, a region that continues to battle stigma since the nuclear accident in 2011. We employ a survey-embedded experiment on a sample of the general Belgian population (N = 1085), during which respondents are presented with a mock news article presenting either a (1) numerical, (2) narrative, or (3) a combined message and test their subsequent evaluation of the article. We find that the numerical message leads to significantly higher perceived credibility and message acceptance than both the combined and the narrative message. Furthermore, we find that attitudes towards nuclear energy have a strong independent effect on message acceptance and evaluation, with those respondents who report a more positive stance towards nuclear energy more readily accepting the message. Food risk and safety communication may thus benefit from adopting a more detached, numerical approach for sensitive issues.

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

In an experimental study ( n = 213), we vary the incivility of a user comment below a mock news post on the Facebook page of a German news outlet. We investigate determinants of the users’ intention to engage in corrective actions and their support for restrictions by Facebook and law enforcement. We test an integrated model and find that incivility of a comment affects users’ support for restrictive and intention for corrective actions, whereas the presumed influence of the comment does not have an effect. The users’ commitment to free speech decreases and paternalism increases their support for authoritative restrictions.

Treatment format and external validity in international relations experiments

ABSTRACT Political scientists use short vignettes or mock news stories to embed treatments in experimental survey designs. We investigate whether the choice of format entails a trade off between internal and external validity. On the one hand, short vignettes may improve internal validity by isolating key variables without overloading respondents with information, thereby mitigating satisficing and improving data quality. On the other hand, mock news stories may improve external validity by approximating the circumstances under which individuals consume political information, which may enhance the credibility of the information. We find no evidence, however, that short vignettes mitigate satisficing more than mock news stories. Nor do we find that mock news stories enhance individual perceptions of the credibility of the information. Instead, we find that short vignettes are susceptible to confounding, which mock news story mitigate. These findings have important implications for debates about the use of survey experiments in political science.

Learning from Divided Parties? Legislator Dissent as a Cue for Opinion Formation

Scholars have generally seen united parties as normatively desirable. However, little work has explored the implications of divided parties for public opinion. This article examines whether legislator dissent reduces public support for the policy positions of divided parties. Dissent can do this in two ways: by undermining the consistency of party cues sent to co-partisans of the divided party; or by providing a signal regarding the likely distance of the policy proposal from citizen preferences. These possibilities are evaluated here using a survey experiment. Respondents were exposed to mock news articles about a debate on a bill that manipulated the presence of dissent on government benches and its spatial location—either proximate to the opposition party or located on the government party’s ideological flank. Legislator dissent appears to reduce the support of government policy for opposition co-partisans, but only when it is centrist and for those with high levels of political knowledge. These results suggest legislator dissent can act as a cue, if a complex one, to help citizens form policy evaluations in line with their preferences.