Facts, alternative facts, and fact checking in times of post-truth politics
Oscar Barrera
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 1097702
- IdRef : 254185347
Sergei Guriev
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 968402
- IdHAL : sergei-guriev
- ORCID : 0000-0001-6048-2169
- IdRef : 146487192
Emeric Henry
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 1114203
- IdHAL : emeric-henry
- ORCID : 0000-0001-9851-084X
- IdRef : 224319914
Ekaterina Zhuravskaya
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 743571
- IdHAL : ekaterina-zhuravskaya
- ORCID : 0000-0002-3496-2086
- IdRef : 177655267
Résumé
How effective is fact checking in countervailing “alternative facts,” i.e., misleading statements by politicians? In a randomized online experiment during the 2017 French presidential election campaign, we subjected subgroups of 2480 French voters to alternative facts by the extreme-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, and/or corresponding facts about the European refugee crisis from official sources. We find that: (i) alternative facts are highly persuasive; (ii) fact checking improves factual knowledge of voters (iii) but it does not affect policy conclusions or support for the candidate; (iv) exposure to facts alone does not decrease support for the candidate, even though voters update their knowledge. We find evidence consistent with the view that at least part of the effect can be explained by raising salience of the immigration issue.
Domaines
Economies et financesFormat du dépôt | Notice |
---|---|
Type de dépôt | Article dans une revue |
Titre |
en
Facts, alternative facts, and fact checking in times of post-truth politics
|
Résumé |
en
How effective is fact checking in countervailing “alternative facts,” i.e., misleading statements by politicians? In a randomized online experiment during the 2017 French presidential election campaign, we subjected subgroups of 2480 French voters to alternative facts by the extreme-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, and/or corresponding facts about the European refugee crisis from official sources. We find that: (i) alternative facts are highly persuasive; (ii) fact checking improves factual knowledge of voters (iii) but it does not affect policy conclusions or support for the candidate; (iv) exposure to facts alone does not decrease support for the candidate, even though voters update their knowledge. We find evidence consistent with the view that at least part of the effect can be explained by raising salience of the immigration issue.
|
Auteur(s) |
Oscar Barrera
1, 2
, Sergei Guriev
3
, Emeric Henry
3
, Ekaterina Zhuravskaya
1, 2
1
PSE -
Paris School of Economics
( 301309 )
- 48 boulevard Jourdan 75014 Paris
- France
2
PJSE -
Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques
( 578027 )
- 48 boulevard Jourdan 75014 Paris
- France
3
ECON -
Département d'économie (Sciences Po)
( 226874 )
- 28 rue des Saints-Pères - 75007 Paris
- France
|
Langue du document |
Anglais
|
Nom de la revue |
|
Vulgarisation |
Non
|
Comité de lecture |
Oui
|
Audience |
Internationale
|
Date de publication |
2020-02
|
Volume |
182
|
Page/Identifiant |
104123
|
Domaine(s) |
|
DOI | 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.104123 |
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