TIL: Perception Gap

[timelets]

You might think that people who regularly read the news are more informed about their political opponents. In fact, the opposite is the case. We found that the more news people consumed, the larger their Perception Gap.
...
We identified how specific news sources are associated with varying levels of distorted understanding in their audiences. Some news sources are associated with larger Perception Gaps, in particular Breitbart, Drudge Report and popular talk radio programs such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. But large Perception Gaps are also associated with liberal sources such as Huffington Post and the Daily Kos. Only one media source is associated with better understanding other Americans’ views: the traditional television networks of ABC, NBC and CBS.

https://perceptiongap.us/



wsj seems to be ok too.

Comments

[gracheeha]

What about NPR and PBS?

[timelets]

I don't know, it's not in the study. Or maybe they fit into the local news category.

[juan_gandhi]

Interesting how we are actively learning all these things that were totally irrelevant e.g. 15 years ago.

[timelets]

I'm mostly surprised between the perception gap between what people thought about the role of the Internet when it went mainstream in the 1990s and what has become of it now.

[juan_gandhi]

We had that kind of mix in the beginning of '90s, in fidonet. Learned something. The world did not communicate those days, but some people did.

[timelets]

I remember certain useful mailing lists; you could get a great advice from a really knowledgeable person. Individual blogs killed it and then there was FB and Twitter. Some people find quora and reddit quite useful.

Early on, expectations were about a new kind of human unity based on high-quality information free from government and commercial distortion. It turned out that the commercial part of the net, e.g. amazon, is the most trustworthy.