Comparing the effects of a news article’s message and source on fracking attitudes in an experimental study

Jacob B. Rode () and Peter H. Ditto
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Jacob B. Rode: University of California, Irvine
Peter H. Ditto: University of California, Irvine

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2020, vol. 10, issue 3, No 4, 255-269

Abstract: Abstract The present research examines the combined role of the message and source of a news article in persuading political partisans about an environmental policy. In a series of three experiments, we presented participants (total N = 3457) with a realistic news article summarizing scientific evidence concerning the environmental and economic costs and benefits of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The article’s message was manipulated to support either a conservative (pro-fracking) or liberal (anti-fracking) policy and was attributed to either a conservative news source (Fox News) or a liberal one (MSNBC). Participants who read pro-fracking articles were generally more supportive of fracking than those who read anti-fracking articles, regardless of whether articles were from an ideologically friendly or unfriendly source. Consistent with previous research, however, participants perceived articles with ideologically unfriendly messages to have worse methods than articles with ideologically friendly messages. Finally, liberal participants showed some reduction in resistance to ideologically unfriendly messages coming from an ideologically friendly source, but conservative participants did not. Implications for politicization of environmental policy and future research are discussed.

Keywords: Fracking; Motivated reasoning; Biased assimilation; Environmental attitudes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s13412-020-00602-z

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