Data and Code for: Is Journalistic Truth Dead? Measuring How Informed Voters Are about Political News

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Charles Angelucci, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Andrea Prat, Columbia University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  bmodel 12/06/2023 09:16:PM
  code 12/06/2023 07:17:PM
  data 12/06/2023 07:17:PM
  results 12/06/2023 09:42:PM
  sport_comp 12/06/2023 09:47:PM
README.html text/html 37.5 KB 02/21/2024 10:42:AM
README.md text/x-web-markdown 25.1 KB 02/21/2024 10:39:AM
hmodel.zip application/zip 49.9 MB 12/06/2023 02:17:PM
requirements.txt text/plain 174 bytes 12/06/2023 02:17:PM
run_all.sh application/x-sh 7.7 KB 12/06/2023 02:17:PM

Project Citation: 

Angelucci, Charles, and Prat, Andrea. Data and Code for: Is Journalistic Truth Dead? Measuring How Informed Voters Are about Political News. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2024. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-03-07. https://doi.org/10.3886/E195601V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary To investigate general patterns in news information in the U.S., we combine a protocol for identifying major political news stories, 11 monthly surveys with 15,000 participants, and a model of news discernment. When confronted with a true and a fake news story, 47% of subjects confidently choose the true story, 3% confidently choose the fake story, and the remaining half are uncertain. Socioeconomic differences are associated with large variations in the probability of selecting the true news story. Partisan congruence between an individual and a news story matters too, but its impact is up to an order of magnitude smaller.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
      D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
      D90 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General
      L82 Entertainment; Media
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 6/2019 – 3/2022 (This paper exploits data gathered from 11 online monthly surveys. The fi rst survey took place in June, 2019 and the last survey in March, 2022.)
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 6/2019 – 3/2022 (This paper exploits data gathered from 11 online monthly surveys. The first survey took place in June, 2019 and the last survey in March, 2022.)
Universe:  View help for Universe U.S. citizens aged 18 and over. 
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data


Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2024-03-07]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as received from the data depositor. As of April 2026, depositors are required to submit study materials in accessible formats. ICPSR has not reviewed, checked, or processed this material. For additional information about the study, please contact the investigator(s) directly. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR's Accessibility Center.