"Political polarization is an increasing global concern. Although recent research suggests that media has the potential to mitigate polarization through persuasion, it is unclear whether polarized individuals are willing to consume, and be receptive to information from, diverse news sources. This mi ... ght especially be the case in nondemocracies where many citizens lack familiarity with credible media sources from across the political spectrum, and some are particularly distrustful of government media. We implement a field experiment in Turkey inducing citizens’ exposure to politically non-aligned online media sources over seven months. Exposure to cross-partisan media outlets increased participants’ consumption of their assigned outlets across the board, but the effects on political attitudes varied based on treatment. Although there was a backlash in the short term, assignment to pro-government media sources led to positive appraisals and voting intentions towards the ruling party in the long term. In contrast, assignment to anti-government media sources positively affected attitudes but not vote intention towards the opposition both in the short and long term. Finally, affective polarization did decrease in the short term, but not in the long term." (Abstract) more

"Exposure to misinformation can affect citizens’ beliefs, political preferences, and compliance with government policies. However, little is known about how to reduce susceptibility to misinformation in a sustained manner outside controlled environments, particularly in the Global South. We evalua ... te an intervention in South Africa that encouraged individuals to consume biweekly fact-checks—as text messages or podcasts—via WhatsApp for six months. The intervention induced substantial consumption and internalization of fact-checks, while increasing participants’ ability to discern political and health misinformation upon exposure— especially when consumption was financially incentivized. Fact-checks that could be quickly consumed via short text messages or via podcasts with empathetic content were most impactful; short messages further increased government approval and compliance with COVID-19 policies. Conversely, we find limited effects on news consumption choices. Our results demonstrate the benefits of inducing sustained exposure to fact-checks, but highlight the difficulty of shifting broader media consumption patterns." (Abstract) more