While the media has probably always had a political leaning, the last few years have undoubtedly seen a number of new platforms emerge that are extremely partisan. Research from Brock University explores what impact this trend has had on our social and political thinking.

“We wanted to find out if people’s issue stances make them gravitate towards certain news organizations and if these news organizations influenced consumers’ attitudes over time,” the researchers explain. “And for the most part, we found evidence for the latter—that exposure to partisan news sources is shifting people’s attitudes.”

Partisan consumption

The research shows that we commonly select our news sources based on the political orientation of the publication. Interestingly, they also found that we tend to orient our views increasingly to that of the publication over time, with this found to endure months after the initial exposure.

This trend was also most prominent among right-leaning media in particular, with this the case regardless of the political stance someone held prior to exposure.

“In an experiment with Canadian undergraduates, we found that students who were exposed to right-leaning media showed greater belief that a terrorist attack was imminent, more anti-refugee attitudes and greater support for military action against terrorism,” the researchers explain.

Influential media

The study, which unlike other research into this topic used real clips of stories related to ISIS and terrorism from the likes of CBC, found that right-leaning outlets seemed to have a bigger impact on the attitudes of viewers. Indeed, people exposed to left-learning news clips didn’t really differ much compared to the control group.

“What’s really significant about the study is that even students who came in with pretty liberal beliefs experienced shifts in their attitudes,” the authors say. “It’s not just that people are coming to the news with a particular attitude or that people who already have particular beliefs are being egged on by the media, but that the news being consumed actually changes subjects’ issue stances over time.”

While it’s perhaps tempting to assume that we can be immune from the influence of media, whatever its stripe, the findings highlight that we are perhaps unlikely to be so, especially if the publication is right-leaning.