Television News Media Consumption and Misperceptions about COVID-19 among US Populations at High Risk for Severe Health Outcomes Early in the Pandemic

Research indicates that misperceptions that become part of people's initial mental models about an issue tend to persist and influence their attitudes even after the misperception has been corrected. Recent work on evolving mental models suggests that communication efforts about the ongoing COV...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health communication 2023-07, Vol.38 (8), p.1621-1630
Main Authors: Maloney, Erin K., Bleakley, Amy, Young, Dannagal G., Silk, Kami J., Crowley, John P., Lambe, Jennifer L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Aged
Bias
Consumption
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - psychology
Demographics
Demography
Disinformation
Female
Health status
High risk
Humans
Infectious diseases
Insight
Male
Mass Media
Mental models
Middle Aged
News media
Pandemics
Populations
SARS-CoV-2
Television
Television news
United States - epidemiology
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Summary:Research indicates that misperceptions that become part of people's initial mental models about an issue tend to persist and influence their attitudes even after the misperception has been corrected. Recent work on evolving mental models suggests that communication efforts about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath may be improved by crafting messages that acknowledge biases and misunderstandings about the virus and other infectious diseases that may remain among members of the target audience. This study was designed to provide insight into such biases by: (1) establishing salient categories of COVID-related misperceptions in the earliest months of the pandemic in the United States among (a) the general population, and (b) demographic sub-populations at high risk of severe health outcomes; (2) identifying demographic predictors of misperceptions; and (3) examining the relationship between consumption of different television news outlets and agreement with misperceptions about COVID-19. A national sample of 1,000 adults in the United States (48.1% male; M age = 47.32, SD = 18.01; 72.9% White/Caucasian, 14.3% Black/African American, 15.9% Hispanic/Latinx) completed a survey between March 19 and March 25, 2020. Results identify prevalent classes of salient early COVID-19 misperceptions. Adjusting for numerous covariates, data indicated individuals over the age of 60 held the fewest COVID-related misperceptions among various demographic sub-populations, misperceptions were most prevalent among Black respondents, and increased consumption of television network news was associated with lower levels of misperception. Consumption of some 24-hour news networks (FOX and MSNBC) were significant positive correlates of misperceptions.
ISSN:1041-0236
1532-7027
DOI:10.1080/10410236.2021.2023381