Does the simple act of clicking influence our political ideologies more than we realize? Is there more to online news consumption than meets the eye? An MIT News article published on November 2, 2023, reports a study by MIT researchers suggesting media preference measurement may be instrumental in answering these questions.
Utilizing a comprehensive online survey and web-tracking data, the study points towards a unique overlap between reported media preferences and real-world news consumption behaviors. The findings, nonetheless, reveal considerable discrepancies in news consumption habits among subjects reporting the same media preferences, challenging assumptions about Americans' polarized media consumption and the accuracy of survey data in evaluating political media influence.
“The information people report in surveys may not fully reflect their actual media habits,” claims Chloe Wittenberg PhD '23, a postdoc in the MIT Department of Political Science and contributor to the study described in the research paper “Media Measurement Matters: Estimating the Persuasive Effects of Partisan Media with Survey and Behavioral Data,” available in the Journal of Politics.
Core to study are Wittenberg, Matthew A. Baum of the Harvard Kennedy School, Adam Berinsky from MIT, Justin de Benedictis-Kessner of the Harvard Kennedy School, and Teppei Yamamoto from MIT. The odd team examined the correlation between self-reported preferences and actual online news consumption, and how partisan media sways diverse consumers.
In partnership with media analytics company comScore, the researchers leveraged the Preference-Incorporating Choice and Assignment (PICA) design to amass data. comScore provided a varied sample of American adults and detailed their web-browsing history for the month leading up to the study, allowing a closer examination of media preferences and studying the impact of partisan media on different consumer groups.
The findings pointed towards uneven effects of partisan media across news audiences. People visiting less news sites compared to entertainment platforms were more likely to be influenced by partisan media. Despite this, a slight discrepancy existed between survey and behavior-based measures of political leanings in news consumption. Survey data suggested ideological openness, while web-browsing data showed consumers with extreme media diets primarily consumed content from sources they already agreed with.
"Inferences about media polarization heavily depend on the measurement methods of individuals’ media preferences," the authors stated in their paper. de Benedictis-Kessner further commented, "Our results endorse the utility of real-world data in studying political media. Accurate measurement of behavior in online news environments is challenging, yet crucial due to the varying conclusions that could be brought about by political polarization."
While, the study leaves questions about its focus on less polarized education policy-related media content. Wittenberg mentioned an interesting extension of the research would be exploring different issue areas that could highlight new dynamics.
The study strikes a chord with researchers exploring the effects of media consumption on individual viewpoints, emphasizing careful measurement of media preferences. Recognizing the disparity between reported and actual habits can enhance our understanding of media impact on our polarized society and support more accurate representation in future studies.
