Applying root cause analysis to determine the most effective media literacy strategy for preventing susceptibility to political misinformation

Abstract

The impact of political misinformation on democratic systems has grown increasingly detrimental. Interventions have proven largely ineffective. This article makes three innovative contributions to create a comprehensive theory and media literacy strategy for preventing susceptibility to political misinformation. First, it applies root cause analysis to find the problem’s main root cause: low political truth literacy. Second, it constructs a simulation model to identify the feedback loop structure of the problem and the two components of the main root cause: logical truth quotient and appropriate action quotient. Both are presently low and must be raised to at least medium to prevent voter susceptibility to political misinformation. Third, an experiment is used to measure root cause presence and demonstrate the potential of raising both components in a cost-efficient manner. Multiple solution elements will be required for efficient full root cause resolution.