Demonizing the enemy: the influence of Russian state-sponsored media on American audiences

Fisher, Aleksandr

doi:10.1080/1060586x.2020.1730121

Cited by 34 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 88 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Nor did it strengthen the effect of mainstream messages. This finding reproduces similar recent research on sourcing in the context of propaganda (Fisher, 2020) and is in line with evidence that citizens do not pay much attention to the source of political messages in certain contexts (Kalogeropoulos et al, 2019). Hence, revealing the source in itself seems like a poor counterpropaganda measure—at least, where the information is not outright lies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Foreign Anti-Mainstream Propaganda and Democratic Publics

Mader

Marinov

Schoen

2022

Comparative Political Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Illiberal regimes use overt and covert political communication to influence public opinion in democracies. We present an argument about how such propaganda impacts targeted publics. We posit that effectiveness depends on whether the source of the message is revealed, on the nature of the issue, and on individual characteristics of the recipients. We test these propositions in Germany, in the context of Kremlin messaging, using eight survey experiments administered to a large sample of German voters ( n = 2, 303). Citizens who mistrust the government, believe in conspiracy theories, or are generally disconnected from politics are vulnerable to propaganda warfare that involves anti-mainstream messaging, while the rest of the populace is not. At the same time, providing a pro-Western, mainstream viewpoint and outing the Russian source are not generally effective countermeasures. We discuss the implications of illiberal regime communication for information wars between states and for the internal workings of democratic politics.*

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Foreign Anti-Mainstream Propaganda and Democratic Publics

Mader

Marinov

Schoen

2022

Comparative Political Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…RT’s coverage emphasizes themes of conflict and decline in American domestic politics and American overextension in foreign affairs (Elswah and Howard 2020). In important studies, Fisher (2020) and Carter and Carter (2021) show exposure to RT can change American’s foreign policy views, but they do not compare this with the influence of domestic media or measure perceptions of RT’s reputation, topics we take up here while focusing on its coverage of American domestic politics.…”

Section: Unfamiliar Local and Foreign News Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Unknown Media on Public Opinion: Evidence from Local and Foreign News Sources

Peterson

Allamong

2021

Am Polit Sci Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the Internet era, people can encounter a vast array of political news outlets, many with which they are unfamiliar. These unknown media outlets are notable because they represent potential sources of misinformation and coverage with a distinctive slant. We use two large survey experiments to consider how source familiarity influences political communication. Although this demonstrates the public is averse to consuming news from unfamiliar media, we show that—conditional on exposure to them—unknown local and foreign media sources can influence public opinion to an extent similar to established mainstream news outlets on the same issues. This comparable effectiveness stems from the public’s charitable evaluations of the credibility of unfamiliar news sources and their relatively low trust in familiar mainstream media. We find avoidance of unknown news outlets, not resistance to their coverage, is the primary factor limiting their political influence.

show abstract

“…RT's political coverage emphasizes themes of conflict and decline in American domestic politics and American overextension in foreign affairs (Elswah and Howard 2020). In important studies, Fisher (2020) and Carter and Carter (ND) show exposure to RT can change American's foreign policy views, but they do not compare this to the influence domestic media source exert on the same issues or measure perceptions of RT's reputation, questions we take up here while focusing on its coverage of American domestic politics.…”

Section: Unfamiliar Local and Foreign News Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Influence of Unknown Media on Public Opinion: Evidence from Local and Foreign News Sources

Peterson¹,

Allamong²

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the Internet era people can encounter a vast array of political news outlets, many of which they are unfamiliar with. These unknown media outlets are notable because they represent potential sources of misinformation and coverage with a distinctive slant. We use a large survey experiment to consider how source familiarity influences political communication. While this demonstrates the public is averse to consuming news from unfamiliar media, we show that—conditional on exposure to them—unknown local and foreign media sources can influence public opinion to an extent similar to established mainstream news outlets on the same issues. This comparable effectiveness stems from the public’s charitable evaluations of the credibility of unfamiliar news sources and their relatively low trust in familiar mainstream media. We find avoidance of unknown news outlets, not resistance to their coverage, is the key factor limiting their political influence.

show abstract

Demonizing the enemy: the influence of Russian state-sponsored media on American audiences

Cited by 34 publications

References 88 publications

Foreign Anti-Mainstream Propaganda and Democratic Publics

Foreign Anti-Mainstream Propaganda and Democratic Publics

The Influence of Unknown Media on Public Opinion: Evidence from Local and Foreign News Sources

The Influence of Unknown Media on Public Opinion: Evidence from Local and Foreign News Sources

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About