Applying Automated Text Analysis to Detect Ideologically-Motivated Manipulations in Mass-Media News

Iryna Babik, Emily Eker, Dmytro Babik

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Partisan interest groups manipulate news to cultivate certain viewpoints; the partisan-oriented public creates demand for such polarized information; this forms a harmful feedback loop that amplifies societal polarization. This study presents the application of automated text analysis methodology to detect stylistic and semantic differences between mass-media news sources of different ideological leanings and radicalism levels to identify text characteristics that might indicate information manipulation. 640 articles on four contentious topics from four mass-media news sources, representing combinations of ideological leanings and radicalism levels, were collected from a seven-year period at times of low and high public interest and analyzed using DICTION software. Results showed significant effects of ideological leaning, radicalism level, and the level of public interest on twelve stylistic and semantic text characteristics. These findings were interpreted in the context of possible information manipulations. As a result, we proposed key text characteristics that might indicate information misrepresentation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInternational Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2023
Subtitle of host publication"Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies"
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems
ISBN (Electronic)9781713893622
StatePublished - 2023
Event44th International Conference on Information Systems: Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies, ICIS 2023 - Hyderibad, India
Duration: 10 Dec 202313 Dec 2023

Publication series

NameInternational Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2023: "Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies"

Conference

Conference44th International Conference on Information Systems: Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies, ICIS 2023
Country/TerritoryIndia
CityHyderibad
Period10/12/2313/12/23

Keywords

  • ideology
  • manipulation
  • mass-media news
  • misinformation
  • polarization
  • radicalism
  • semantic analysis
  • text analysis

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