Assistant Professor @University of Groningen, former Fulbrighter @Univeristy of Michigan, political communication, comparative research, she/her/dr
Qinfeng Zhu, PhD
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while news verification should be about facts, it is often done through a political lens. This begs the question: Will programs such as community notes that rely heavily on user verification serve their purpose or further exacerbate information disorder
We used a multilevel comparative approach to examine how individual characteristics & structural contexts together shape news authentication, comparing countries with distinct media & political systmes: the Netherlands, the US, and Hong Kong with a preregistered, population-based survey (N = 6,082)
We find news authentication is a resilience tool fostered by institutional trust & political efficacy, esp where structural factors fail to curb misinfo, but it's also fueled by conspiracy beliefs in Western democracies, reflecting its 'dark side' in contexts of growing anti-establishment sentiments
