Research

Information Integrity, Technology, and Democracy

Li, Q. (forthcoming). Not All Falsehoods Are Equal: A Critical Examination of Mis- and Disinformation during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. In B. R. Warner, D. G. Bystrom, M. S. McKinney, & M. C. Banwart (Eds.), Democracy on the line: The turbulent 2024 presidential election.

How should we understand the impact of mis- and disinformation on American democracy and our society? Can we treat all falsehoods as equal? In this chapter, situating the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election in the larger context of democratic backsliding, right-wing authoritarian and far-right politics, I discuss how certain falsehoods and lies are more harmful than others to American democracy and our goal to build an egalitarian society. Using critical literature centering power as well as work on critical disinformation as a guide, I use a mixed-method approach to study mis- and disinformation during the 2024 election. Results show that 1) right-wing politicians played a larger role than left-wing politicians in spreading critical falsehoods during the election on issues including but not limited to economy, immigration, abortion, transgender rights, and social welfare, 2) falsehoods about election fraud, political violence, campaign finance violations were prevalent from both the left and right (though mostly the right), which could potentially undermine the public’s trust in democratic institutions and weaken democratic norms, and finally, 3) identity-based critical disinformation and identity propaganda along the lines of race and ethnicity, immigration status, gender and gender identity, sexuality, and class were proliferate during the 2024 election. These findings suggest the importance of conceptualizing “harms” to fully understand the impact of mis- and disinformation on American democracy.

Li, Q. (forthcoming). Is It Just About the Facts? The Case for a Critical, Pro-Democracy Approach to Information Integrity. Journal of Applied Communication Research.

How do misinformation and disinformation pollute the information environment and undermine democracy? In the last decade, numerous studies have investigated the prevalence of online misinformation and its impact on the American public. Despite widespread concerns over online misinformation, scientific evidence accumulated so far suggests that online misinformation has limited reach among the public, and that social media do not have a causal impact on misperceptions. While concerns over the prevalence and impact of online misinformation might be overblown, we are far from understanding the harms caused by mis- and disinformation to the health of our media environment, our multi-cultural society, and democracy. Drawing upon the critical disinformation framework and democratic theories, I argue that misinformation researchers should ground empirical work in normative theories of media and democracy and examine the harms of misinformation based on democratic principles. These insights have important implications for media practitioners and policy- and lawmakers as we work together to safeguard the information environment and increase the resilience of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural democracy.

Li, Q., Bond, R. M., & Garrett, R. K. (2023). Misperceptions in Sociopolitical Context: Belief Sensitivity’s Relationship with Battleground State Status and Partisan Segregation. Journal of Communication, 73(5), p.439–451. Replication data and R code

Numerous studies have shown that individuals’ belief sensitivity—their ability to discriminate between true and false political statements—varies according to psychological and demographic characteristics. We argue that sensitivity also varies with the political and social communication contexts in which they live. Both battleground state status of the state in which individuals live and the level of partisan segregation in a state are associated with Americans’ belief sensitivity. We leverage panel data collected from two samples of Americans, one collected in the first half of 2019 and the other during the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign season. Results indicate that the relationship between living in battleground states and belief sensitivity is contingent on political ideology: living in battleground states, versus in Democratic-leaning states, is associated with lower belief sensitivity among conservatives and higher belief sensitivity among liberals. Moreover, living in a less politically segregated state is associated with greater belief sensitivity. These relationships were only in evidence in the election year.

Nisbet, E. C., Mortenson, C., & Li, Q. (2021). The presumed influence of election misinformation on others reduces our own satisfaction with democracy. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 1(7). Appendix A, Appendix B, Data

Pervasive political misinformation threatens the integrity of American electoral democracy but not in the manner most commonly examined. We argue the presumed influence of misinformation (PIM) may be just as pernicious, and widespread, as any direct influence that political misinformation may have on voters. Our online survey of 2,474 respondents in the United States shows that greater attention to political news heightens PIM on others as opposed to oneself, especially among Democrats and Independents. In turn, PIM on others reduces satisfaction with American electoral democracy, eroding the “virtuous circle” between news and democracy, and possibly commitment to democracy in the long-term.

Journalism, Peer networks, and Social Influence

Li, Q., Hassell, H. J. G., & Bond, R. M. (2023). Journalists’ networks: Homophily and peering over the shoulder of other journalists. PLOS ONE, 18(10).

Social media plays an important role in how journalists gather and report news. To understand journalists’ professional environment, we examine the networks of journalists on Twitter who cover politics for U.S. newspapers in conjunction with a sample of journalists who completed a survey. By combining both their network data and survey responses, we examine the distribution of journalists’ ideology (n = 264) and journalistic values (n = 247); and using the network data, we examine the directional relationships between journalists working at large and small papers (n = 4,661). We find that journalists tend to form connections with those who share similar journalistic values. However, we find little evidence that journalists build professional relationships based on similarity in political ideology. Lastly, journalists at larger media outlets are more likely to be central in journalists’ Twitter networks, providing evidence that journalists look to other journalists at larger outlets for direction in news coverage. Our evidence provides unique insights into how social media illuminates journalists’ professional environment and how that environment may shape news coverage.

Computational Methods

Li, Y., Wang, Z., & Li, Q. (2023). Presidential Communication and Its Relationship with Partisan Perceptions and Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Examination. Human Communication Research, 49(4), p.433-447.

Partisanship played a key role in shaping individuals’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The current project applies the extended parallel processing model (EPPM) to examine how the content features of White House press conferences were associated with the partisan gap in perceptions and behavior during the early stage of the pandemic. Using supervised machine learning, Study 1 analyzes the White House press conferences regarding the pandemic during 2020. The results demonstrate that the White House focused on efficacy but included minimal threat information. Study 2 uses the threat and efficacy information in White House press conferences to predict perceived threat and efficacy as well as self-quarantine behavior measured by longitudinal surveys using nationally representative samples of U.S. adults. Time-series analysis shows that an increase of threat information from the White House was associated with a subsequent decrease in the partisan gap between Democrats and Republicans on perceived threat and self-quarantine behavior by increasing perceived threat and self-quarantine behavior among Republicans. This study contributes to presidential communication research by systematically examining specific message features and linking them to public perceptions and behaviors in the context of a public health crisis. The study also extends the EPPM to a dynamic model, estimating the asymmetric effects and self-continuity of positive (i.e., efficacy) and negative (i.e., threat) information on perceptions and behaviors.