Media effects and the impact of fake and anti-fake news on youth audiences: The use of eye-tracking technologies

Abstract

This paper analyzes media effects of fake and anti-fake journalistic materials and their impact on youth audiences. The paper deals with fake news as a relevant problem of the modern information society and defines the term “anti- fake” as a way to combat Internet fakes. A sample of fake and anti-fake news was formed from 100 informational political materials. The selected media texts were marked as “fake” and “anti-fake”. The research was based on the main provisions of the cognitive approach in the investigation of media effects within the framework of interrelated models: agenda-setting and framing (analysis of the content and form of presenting information). The main results of the research identified the key patterns of the respondents’ attention and areas of interest (“image”, “text”), as well as their attitude to the proposed stimuli. The research was based on eye-tracking and a survey. The results showed that anti-fake and fake news attract the respondents’ attention; however, anti-fake materials have the maximum impact on the respondents in terms of the number of fixations on the stimulus, the level of memorability, and the level of credibility. “Fake” and “anti-fake” warning labels affect significantly the perception process.

Keywords

• media effects
• framing
• agenda-setting
• fake
• anti-fake
• youth audiences