Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

The New F Bomb: #FakeNews as a Strategic Political Tool in the Donald Trump Era

Fri, August 31, 10:00 to 11:30am, Marriott, Salon I

Abstract

The term “Fake News” was used frequently during the 2016 presidential election and has continued to be used extensively well into the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency. Originally coined as an objective means for describing intentionally false or misleading information, there are indications that the term “Fake News” has morphed into a tool for political entrepreneurs to attack, denigrate, or delegitimize political threats. Such a tendency has been especially visible within social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

However, little attention has been given towards measuring the extent to which the term “Fake News” has shifted from being an objective assessment of information credibility to being a political weapon. Additionally, more needs to be known regarding how effective accusations of “Fake News” are in delegitimizing political opponents, especially within networked environments like Twitter. When doing so, the structural nature of networked environments must be taken into consideration, as the reach and impact of a message is dependent upon the influence of individuals involved. Further, networked environments can foster conditions of ideological homophily which, in turn, may limit the effectiveness of such political attacks.

This project investigates the “Fake News” phenomenon in social media by addressing the following questions:

To what extent has the term “Fake News” been used as a strategic tool for political entrepreneurs over time? In what ways has politicians’ use of the term “Fake News” influenced how the mass public discusses the term in social media? Has the term “Fake News” been used predominantly by Republicans or Democrats – and has this changed over time? Finally, what can the “Fake News” phenomenon tell us about political polarization in networked environments, as well as the role played by political elites in fostering such an atmosphere?

I address these questions by drawing upon an original data set of several million tweets containing the hashtag #FakeNews collected daily since January 1st, 2017. Collecting this data daily provides a valuable advantage as it allows for an objective analysis of trends as they develop over time. User account analysis is used to identify the predominant political alignment of the most influential accounts using the hashtag #FakeNews” over time. Further, network metrics and visualizations are used to assess the reach and impact of messages using #FakeNews, as well as the extent to which they were successful in reaching users with opposing political party alignments.

This project contributes to the Political Communication literature in several ways. First, this research offers scientific evidence regarding how extensively “Fake News” has been used as a strategic tool by political entrepreneurs over time. Second, it adds to the discipline’s understanding of mass public reaction to polarizing elite cues. Finally, this research contributes to the growing body of social network analysis methodologies which seek to better understand how people behave and communicate with each other in politically charged networked environments.

Author