A new research memo by the Public Policy Forum found that mainstream media outlets like the CBC, CTV and Huffington Post were one of the causes of misinformation among Canadians.
“The one troubling point seems to be that, while social media exposure is associated with higher levels of misinformation, so is exposure to traditional or mainstream media (though to a lesser extent),” writes the report.
The findings are part of the think tank’s “Digital Democracy Project” which is “a multi-year project to analyze and respond to the increasing amounts of disinformation and hate in the digital public sphere”.
According to the report, those who get their news from mainstream outlets are more likely to give incorrect answers to questions about basic governmental policy issues.
“Survey respondents who read or watched more traditional news media were less likely to express uncertainty about policy questions than those with low consumption, but more likely to give an incorrect response,” it says.
When asking respondents to reply to statements on central policy issues like the environment, immigration and the economy, those with a high amount of traditional media consumption gave nearly twice as many incorrect answers than those with low traditional media consumption.
“Respondents with high levels of traditional news media exposure reported uncertainty in the answer to our fact-based questions 2 fewer times than those with lower levels of media consumption,” reads the report.
“They gave 0.9 more correct responses; however, they also gave 1.1 more incorrect responses, which means they gave 0.2 more net-incorrect responses than those with lower exposure.
Among other findings, the memo claims that most Canadians consume a majority of their news from the following five outlets: CBC online (42%), CTV (41%), CTV online (40%), CBC Television (39%) and TVA-Nouvelles (37%).
According to the report, the project surveyed over 1,000 Canadians and analyzed millions of social media posts to achieve its findings.
Join and support independent free thinkers!
We’re independent and can’t be cancelled. The establishment media is increasingly dedicated to divisive cancel culture, corporate wokeism, and political correctness, all while covering up corruption from the corridors of power. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. When you support The Post Millennial, you support freedom of the press at a time when it's under direct attack. Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1.
Remind me next month
To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy
