Soft Propaganda, Misinformed Citizens, and Source Credibility

• In Event: Sources of Popular Support for Authoritarian Regimes

Abstract

Propaganda takes many forms. However, much of the literature focuses on hard, heavy-handed propaganda that is easily detected. As a result, scholars find propaganda often does not persuade citizens in authoritarian regimes but discourages them from openly opposing the regime. In this article, we study a new form of propaganda in which states buy space in foreign mainstream media outlets to publish state-sponsored news articles that masquerade as editorial content. Despite the severe political and ethical implications of this type of propaganda, we know little about how it works. In our working paper, we argue that the expected cost of accepting foreign political advertising for the native media depends on the likelihood that its readers will detect it and the extent to which its credibility will be harmed (if detected). Although the cost of losing its reputation and credibility from delivering foreign political advertisements as editorial content is large, it is hard for native citizens to detect such advertising. Using an online survey experiment with real political advertisements in the Washington Post and the Telegraph from the Chinese government, we find that respondents are not able to recognize political advertisements from news articles regardless of their level of education and media literacy. The findings in the article challenge the view that citizens, especially those with high education, often can recognize government propaganda. Our research provides the first theoretical explanation and empirical evidence concerning the effects of foreign political advertising, and it has important implications for the study of media freedom and propaganda.

Authors

• Yaoyao Dai, New York University Abu Dhabi

• Luwei Rose Luqiu