How Does Exposure to Discordant Media Sources Affect Political Attitudes to Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Turkey

When citizens lack exposure to media sources that offer contrasting perspectives, biased information consumption diets risk entrenching political views and exacerbating polarization. This might especially be the case in dominant party settings where citizens lack exposure to media sources across the political spectrum. In the context of Turkey, we implemented a randomized control trial inducing citizens’ exposure to politically non-aligned (discordant) online media sources over the course of half a year, thereby exposing pro-(anti-)government supporters to anti- (pro-)government sources of varying intensity. Midline and endline surveys have presented promising effects on media consumption and political beliefs and attitudes. We therefore now seek funding for a long-run follow-up survey, during the election campaign period, to examine the persistence of these effects once participants no longer face incentives to comply with their assigned media outlet treatment.