How do media contribute to the dissemination of conspiracy beliefs? A field study combining panel and web tracking at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As COVID-19 escalated into a global health crisis, pandemic-related conspiracy theories emerged rapidly. Understanding how and under which conditions media influence their dissemination is essential. This study leverages unique data from 2-wave survey panels in Germany and German-speaking Switzerlan...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Communication Vol. 76; no. 2; pp. 119 - 134 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Apr2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193166875&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193166875 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00219916 JCO jtl: Journal of Communication issn: 00219916 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 76 iid: 2 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 193166875 10.1093/joc/jqaf033 ppf: 119 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: How do media contribute to the dissemination of conspiracy beliefs? A field study combining panel and web tracking at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. aug: au: Adam, Silke Rohrbach, Tobias Keller, Franziska Makhortykh, Mykola León, Ernesto de Valli, Chiara Baghumyan, Ani Sydorova, Maryna affil: Institute of Communication and Media Research, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandMultidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Institute of Communication and Media Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland su: Germany Conspiracy theories COVID-19 pandemic Mass media Alternative mass media sug: subj: Conspiracy theories COVID-19 pandemic Mass media Alternative mass media Germany keyword: conspiracy beliefs conspiracy exposure conspiracy theory copyrightHolder:International Communication Association copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en mixed methods motivated reasoning publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf033 web tracking conspiracy beliefs conspiracy exposure conspiracy theory copyrightHolder:International Communication Association copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en mixed methods motivated reasoning publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf033 web tracking ab: As COVID-19 escalated into a global health crisis, pandemic-related conspiracy theories emerged rapidly. Understanding how and under which conditions media influence their dissemination is essential. This study leverages unique data from 2-wave survey panels in Germany and German-speaking Switzerland, along with online tracking, to explore how individuals' preexisting beliefs and media exposure influence the formation of pandemic-related conspiracy beliefs. The findings reveal direct exposure effects: alternative media, when supporting the conspiratorial claims, fostered conspiracy beliefs while mainstream media reduced conspiracy beliefs after debunking. Preexisting beliefs further conditioned these effects: individuals with strong populist views or low political trust selectively engaged with alternative media and selectively avoided mainstream sources. This resulted in two indirect pathways to the dissemination of conspiracy beliefs: people who selected into conspiracy-supporting content on alternative media experienced a reinforcement of conspiracy beliefs whereas people who (partially) avoided mainstream media counterargued the conspiracy-opposing information, also strengthening their conspiracy beliefs. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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