Public Perceptions of “Fake News” in the United States and Japan

• In Event: Lyin' Eyes: Perceptions of Misinformation and its Consequences

Abstract

Concerns about the spread of misinformation and its implications for democratic participation have increased worldwide. While research on misinformation has proliferated, much of it focuses on the message source. Studies primarily treat the audience as a target that is subject to manipulation. This paper views the audience in more active terms as it examines the public’s understanding of “fake news” in the American and Japanese contexts. The paper addresses the following questions in comparative perspective: What does “fake news” mean to the public? How do views about “fake news” and misinformation differ based upon people’s political predispositions? To what extent does the public perceive “fake news” to be evident in media coverage of politics and elections? What factors are associated with perceptions of the prominence of “fake news”? We find that political predispositions, such as partisanship, trust in the media, and political interest, are related to perceptions of “fake news” in both countries. Social media use is related to the public’s views of “fake news” in the U.S. and Japan. Data employed in this study come from the following sources: 1) an online surveys of Japanese voters conducted in conjunction with the 2017 Lower House election and the 2019 Upper House election, and 2) an original national survey of Americans online conducted by Diana Owen and the Georgetown University Media and Politics Research Group in March 2018 in the run-up to the midterm elections as well as a survey that is planned for April of 2019.

Authors

• Diana M. Owen, Georgetown University

• Morihiro Ogasahara, Toyo University

• Shoko Kiyohara, Meiji University