European Journal of Political Economy· 2026Q1
Public perceptions of false positive and negative errors in news reports
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
News consumers perceive different media types as having distinct tendencies for false positive (inaccurate reporting) and false negative (omitting important news) errors, and these perceptions influence their media consumption habits.
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Key points
- Citizens perceive different media types as having varying propensities for false positive and false negative news errors.
- These perceptions of media errors correlate with individuals' media consumption habits.
- Media literacy interventions could potentially increase demand for alternative media sources.
- Subgroup analyses suggest media literacy interventions might shift preferences between false positive and false negative reporting errors.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Due to the problem of misinformation, the public is advised to obtain information from reputable sources to avoid inaccurate news coverage (false positive errors). However, even reputable sources might fail to cover some important news stories (false negative errors). We use this dichotomy as a descriptive framework for two dimensions of perceived media performance, rather than as a claim that all reporting decisions are literally binary. Based on this framework, we conducted a survey in Japan ( ) to examine citizens’ perceptions of these two dimensions and their correlational implications for media consumption. The results indicate that respondents perceive different types of media to vary in their likelihood of committing the two errors; these perceptions correlate with media consumption. Furthermore, media literacy interventions may unexpectedly increase demand for alternative media. Exploratory subgroup analyses also suggest that they may shift preferences over the two types of reporting errors.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. European Journal of Political Economy, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Sociology and Political Science
Sociology and Political ScienceSocial Sciences