Study Suggests Fact-Checking Influences Political Behavior

[applegrove]

Study Suggests Fact-Checking Influences Political Behavior

by DAVID LEONHARDT, the Caucus, at the NY Times

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/study-suggests-fact-checking-influences-political-behavior/?_r=0

"SNIP................................


“These results suggest that the electoral and reputational threat posed by fact-checking can affect the behavior of elected officials,” Mr. Nyhan and Mr. Reifler wrote in a version of the paper released Tuesday by the New America Foundation. “In this way, fact-checking could play an important role in improving political discourse and strengthening democratic accountability.”

In an e-mail, I asked Mr. Nyhan, a frequent contributor to the Columbia Journalism Review, whether the letters really could have influenced state legislators. His reply:


As far as why the effect occurred, we can only offer our theory — as you know, experiments speak much less clearly about mechanisms than treatment effects. Our interpretation is that the letter was an effective reminder of the potential costs of a negative rating.

The PolitiFact affiliates were new in most of the states, and the typical legislator is risk-averse. Given how little coverage most of them receive and the fact that many likely have ambitions of higher office, leadership, etc., the threat of acquiring a reputation as a dissembler seems potentially meaningful. Even if they knew about PolitiFact in the abstract, being reminded repeatedly about the damage that a negative rating could inflict might make such concerns more salient.



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[NRaleighLiberal]

1. not sure that applies to republicans - they create their own facts, and their voters swallow it all

as gospel.

You can't expect to engage the conscience from a group of people that clearly have none.

[applegrove]

2. Certainly there are some manipulators in the GOP who

don't think they'd get caught lying. But this is interesting information for those who follow them and know there are untruths out there.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. agreed - but I still see it as preaching to the choir. Faux news is one big 24/7 lie.

Doesn't seem to bother them or viewers or pundits.

[applegrove]

5. The GOP works to steal the vote by getting small % of people

to switch their vote. We should be doing the same. Even if it is only 5% of the GOP candidates who know they are lying and don't want to be caught...think at what having them tell the truth would do to get people in their districts out of that GOP bubble.

[Azathoth]

4. The effects of fact-checking in today's media-drenched society are transitory at best

It's only a matter of time before either a) the partisan media successfully demonize the fact-checking organization and thereby inoculate their followers against its effects, or b) partisans and other agenda-driven people successfully infiltrate the fact-checking organization and destroy its objectivity (or worse, start their own "alternative" fact-checking organization whose primary purpose is to discredit the real one).

Exhibit 1: Rachel Maddow v. PolitFact