People who believe climate change is a conspiracy get most of their information about news and current events from commercial and social media, according to a Monash University study. Source: The Guardian.
The study, led by Prof Mark Andrejevic and Assoc Prof Zala Volcic, found that those who relied on social media as the main source of news scored lower on a measure of “civic values” than people who relied on newspapers and non-commercial media.
Civic values were defined as an individual’s belief in democratic institutions and practices, as well as their openness to considering perspectives that challenged their own.
Respondents were asked questions such as “When you encounter information about politics that challenges your point of view, what do you tend to do?” and provided with multiple-choice answers.
For the climate change question, researchers asked whether “fluctuations in the climate are the result of natural cycles that take place regardless of human activity”.
Of those who got most of their news from commercial TV and radio, 37 per cent agreed with the statement. Of those who got most of their information from social media, 25 per cent believed climate change was a conspiracy.
Conversely, those who disbelieved in conspiracies about climate change were more likely to get their information from public broadcasters ABC and SBS.
Professor Andrejevic said the most striking finding in the study was that almost 60 per cent of the 2,000 Australians surveyed who said their main source of information about news and current events was social media fell in the bottom half of the civic values scale.
However, the majority of those who relied on newspapers, public broadcasters and online news aggregators were in the top half of the scale.
“Free speech is based on the idea that people have been educated enough in the values of civil society to be willing to engage in good faith discussion, but what you see online is that doesn’t happen at all,” Professor Andrejevic said.
“We wanted to see how the different media actually cater to scoring higher or lower on this set of values that we think are important for democracy.”
FULL STORY
Australians who get most of their news from social media more likely to believe in climate conspiracy, study finds (By Amanda Meade, The Guardian)
