NEW YORK, NY – The viral fake news story about Haitian immigrants "eating cats and dogs" quickly took root in xenophobic discourse, spreading through social media and even surfacing during the presidential debate. Although thoroughly debunked, this incident highlights a deeper issue: misinformation, often driven by harmful stereotypes, is increasingly shaping national conversations. In new research, Columbia Business School Professor Andrea Prat reveals that while 47% of U.S. voters can confidently distinguish true news from false, stark socioeconomic disparities play a critical role in determining this ability. This suggests the problem isn’t just misinformation’s spread but also unequal access to reliable information.
In the paper, Is Journalistic Truth Dead? Measuring How Informed Voters Are about Political News by Professor Andrea Prat and his co-author, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Charles Angelucci, investigated how well U.S. voters can discern between real and fake political news. They found that while 47% of participants could confidently identify real news, around 50% struggled. More importantly, they discovered that socioeconomic factors, not political beliefs, had a greater influence on this ability. This challenges the parallel universe theory, which argues that partisan media separates voters into different realities. Instead, the research shows that addressing misinformation requires tackling broader issues like education, income, and access to reliable information.
“The growing concern over misinformation often focuses on partisan divides, but our research shows that socioeconomic factors play a far more significant role in determining whether people can distinguish true news from false,” said Andrea Prat, the Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business. “The issue isn’t just about living in ‘parallel universes’ of media but about unequal access to reliable information. To combat misinformation, we must address structural challenges like improving education, enhancing digital literacy, and ensuring that all socioeconomic groups have affordable access to high-quality news. Without tackling these deeper issues, we’ll continue to see gaps in how informed our society really is.”
From June 2019 to March 2022, the researchers gathered data from 11 monthly surveys with approximately 15,000 participants. They sourced participants through YouGov, a polling company that provides nationally representative samples of U.S. adult citizens. They focused on U.S. federal government news and misinformation. First, they identified each month's three most important real news stories from Reuters, spanning the survey period. Then, they used two methods to introduce fake news: either by sourcing widely circulated false claims from Snopes or by having a panel of journalists craft plausible fake stories. Participants were financially incentivized to identify true news correctly, and the results were analyzed to assess how partisanship and various socioeconomic factors, such as education, income, and age, influenced their ability to do so.
Additional Findings Include:
- Partisanship Shows Little Impact: Participants were only 2% more likely to select a fake news story if it favored their political party. This suggests that while partisanship has an effect, it’s less influential than factors like education or income in determining news discernment.
- Decline Over Time: The ability to correctly identify true news stories declines by 2-3% each month after the news event, indicating that memory fades as time passes.
- Age Disparities: Contrary to popular belief, individuals over 52 were 6% more likely to correctly identify real news than those under 52, challenging the assumption that younger, tech-savvy people are better at discerning information.
“By shifting the focus away from political polarization, we highlight a bigger challenge: information inequality. Researchers, policymakers, and educators must prioritize improving access to reliable news, particularly for disadvantaged communities. Empowering all citizens with the tools to make informed decisions bridges this gap, strengthening our democracy for future generations, said Professor Prat.”
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