Trump is the primary source of US disinformation in POC media, finds ICFJ study

The call is coming from within the house: Trump was the main source and distributor of disinformation in ethnic and Indigenous press in the US, according to a new study published today by the International Center for Journalists; City St George’s, University of London; the University of Maryland; and Arizona State University.

The report, titled ‘Disarming Disinformation: US’, determined disinformation was predominantly spread by domestic political forces rather than foreign states during the 2024 presidential election, based on analysis of thousands of articles and social media posts, alongside dozens of in-depth interviews.

The research connects the prevalence of political disinformation with the normalisation of violence against journalists amid unprecedented attacks on the US press, and a decline in trust in the news.

 Key findings

• Trump was the most prominent source and distributor of disinformation in ethnic and Indigenous press (showing that disinformation is spreading from within, via domestic political forces rather than through the actions of foreign states)

• 86% of Americans say they have seen or heard journalists being harassed or abused online, indicating a normalisation of such attacks and reflecting unprecedented political targeting of the US press

• WhatsApp groups, WeChat channels and other closed digital spaces often act as “information cocoons”, allowing rumours and other forms of disinformation to spread unabated; often using the same channels and methods as financial scams

• The exclusion or wilful omission of Indigenous community voices in mainstream media coverage feeds disinformation and fuels racist narratives, effectively erasing the everyday experiences and agency of their communities from political discourse
   
• Trust in the mainstream press continues to decline but there are distinctions along racial lines, with 32% of people of colour (POC) survey participants expressing distrust in the news, compared to 44% of white-identifying participants.

Study methods

The interdisciplinary study was carried out through:

• Computational analysis of over 10,000 news articles and social media posts during the 2024 US presidential election
• In-depth case studies focused on five media outlets serving Black, Indigenous, Latino and Asian American communities in the US (including the Haitian Times, which found itself at the epicentre of risk when Haitians were falsely accused of eating their neighbours’ pets by Trump and Vance)
• Interviews with 45 US journalists working for the Indigenous and ethnic press
• A public opinion survey of 1020 American adults focused on attitudes to disinformation, targeted attacks on the press and the news media’s democratic function.

The study was led by Professor Julie Posetti (City St George's), Professor Sarah Oates (Maryland) and Professor K. Hazel Kwon (ASU). It was peer reviewed by Dr Lea Hellmueller.

ENDS