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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Opinions as facts
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Leonardo Bursztyn
  • Aakaash Rao
  • Christopher Roth
  • David Yanagizawa-Drott
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Review of Economic Studies
Publisher Oxford University Press
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0034-6527
Volume 90
Number 4
Page Range 1832 - 1864
Date 2023
Abstract Text The rise of opinion programs has transformed television news. Because they present anchors’ subjective commentary and analysis, opinion programs often convey conflicting narratives about reality. We experimentally document that people across the ideological spectrum turn to opinion programs over “straight news”, even when provided large incentives to learn objective facts. We then examine the consequences of diverging narratives between opinion programs in a high-stakes setting: the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. We find stark differences in the adoption of preventative behaviours among viewers of the two most popular opinion programs, both on the same network, which adopted opposing narratives about the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We then show that areas with greater relative viewership of the program downplaying the threat experienced a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Our evidence suggests that opinion programs may distort important beliefs and behaviours.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1093/restud/rdac065
Other Identification Number merlin-id:23293
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Keywords Economics and econometrics, opinion programs, media, narratives
Additional Information This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in the Review of Economic Studies following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at: 10.1093/restud/rdac065