Believing The Unbelievable: How Conspiracy Theories Thrive in News-Deprived Environments
Brynn Fleisig
Why do people love to believe the unbelievable? Conspiracy theories may act as a source of comfort for some, or as exciting late night deep-dives for others, yet one truth remains constant; Americans are infatuated by conspiracy beliefs, no matter how far-fetched they might be. When answering the question of why Americans are obsessed, the context and circumstances of national media consumption cannot be ignored. Engagement with newspapers is at an all time low, and has shrunk by more than 40% in the last decade (Pew Research Center, 2012). The digital age is replacing printed truths with fictitious tweets- and publishing companies don’t cater to a larger audience anymore. “Bundling” news topics together to appeal to more consumers has become a useless tactic in the age of Google searches, having detrimental consequences for readers. Social media and the emergence of the internet has replaced local community news sources, consequently leaving people uninformed due to their only consumption of media being the specific subjects they seek out. Insecure in their knowledge base of political and social affairs, conspiracy theories flourish in these minds of the unintentionally ignorant, resulting in communities without a central source of truth being led astray by nonsensical beliefs.
Media bundling subjected consumers to various information groups ranging from politics to fashion, allowing a subconscious absorption of information and leaving the reader with a well rounded view due to these many inputs. The internet’s specificity allows readers to ignore information outside their interests, limiting their understanding of broader issues, henceforth eliminating their peripheral vision of the news and current events. Without this journalistic ‘peripheral vision’, readers are off-balanced and left vulnerable to false and dangerous news, including conspiracy theories, propaganda, and AI misinformation. Christine Glancey, the Wall Street Journal’s deputy editor for newsroom standards classified disinformation in the form of ‘deepfakes’ as a “major concern” (International Center for Journalists, 2020). Although it appears contradictory- as one would assume that access to more information via the internet would lead to a broader world view- “The proliferation of social media, especially the emergence of numerous alternative platforms with minimal moderation, has greatly facilitated the dissemination and consumption of conspiracy theories” (Schatto-Eckrodt, Clever, & Frischlich, 2024). Simply put, the overcrowding of news sources in conjunction with readers' ability to evade all topics extraneous to their interests has created an atmosphere of political insecurity. Unsure of broader contexts of the news, media consumers begin feeling anxious, and conspiracy theories flourish in times of uncertainty (Schatto-Eckrodt et al., 2024). Filled with harrowing doubt, people that once consumed community newspapers and journals seek security and comfort; allowing even the wildest conspiracies to appear perfectly logical- as long as their nerves are soothed. Research by Melinda Wenner of Scientific American concludes that “events happening worldwide are nurturing underlying emotions that make people more willing to believe in conspiracies…Experiments have revealed that feelings of anxiety make people think more conspiratorially. Such feelings, along with a sense of disenfranchisement, currently grip many Americans, according to surveys” (Moyer, 2019). The environment that allows conspiracies to manifest so easily comes as a result of de-bundling topics and targeting individual interests by means of the internet, but the nature of conspiracy theories aids this deceitful epidemic.
Although seemingly farfetched, conspiracy theories are so comforting to individuals because they address specific concerns in digestible ways, such as global warming. If one has a rudimentary understanding of science, the conspiracy that Democrats falsified global warming for political gain is more appealing due to its simplistic and exciting nature, opposed to understanding the ozone layer and carbon emissions. Research shows that the solution for conspiracy theories lies in the issue with such lack of engagement in the news, as garnering knowledge about relevant topics and issues prevents the anxiety that attracts conspiracies; “In consequence, the availability of news coverage about a critical event could reduce the spread of conspiracy theories by reducing the need for sensemaking in the collective” (Schatto-Eckrodt et al., 2024). To strengthen one is to prevent the other, and this inverse relationship could be the key to improving media literacy on a national scale. However, this is harder said than done. Local newspapers are being bought by larger corporations, resulting in a massive decrease in locally relevant news publishings, yet an insignificant increase in readers. Lisa Marshall of Colorado University, Boulder found “strong evidence that when a large corporation takes over a news station, the amount of local content produced diminishes” (Marshall, 2021). In exchange for a fractionally larger audience, there is a decrease in information relevant for the niche categories of those readers, consequently rendering the publishing ineffective in providing local news and truths. In such environments where local news decreases in both quantity and quality, social media replaces mainstream reporting, and communities are left uninformed, conspiracy theories have the most influence: “Conspiracy theories proliferate on all major social media platforms…often finding fertile ground within specialized communities” (Schatto-Eckrodt et al., 2024). Once this threshold is crossed, conspiracy theories no longer serve as a source of entertainment or harmless fascination. They become a poisonous influence that erodes consumers' ability to identify and understand the truth, leading to misinformed decisions and irreparable consequences.
Excessive amounts of any entity is dangerous, and conspiracy theories are no exception. Using parallel logic, consuming too little of something vital for survival- like truth- can be just as threatening to life. Refusing to vaccinate children, blaming Tylenol for autism, subverting the climate crisis- there are countless examples of the consequences that truth deprived, conspiracy filled communities suffer because of these circumstances. The digital era has transformed truth into something subjective, where an individual’s judgment of objectivity is determined by the quantity of likes or retweets on social media posts. Traditional, community-based publishing no longer effectively informs their audiences, and the usage of news bundling is to no avail. Readers are left with fragmented views of current events and culture as a result of these societal shifts because they’re shown only the information they wish to see. Without broad perspectives, these audiences are vulnerable to conspiracy theories, inspiring distrust in the very news that’s trying to aid them. Society must return to trusting truths and trusting that consuming honest information (even seemingly irrelevant information) is vital for critical thinking, and is the best method of self defense against ignorance.
References
Schatto-Eckrodt, T., Clever, L., & Frischlich, L. (2024). The seed of doubt: Examining the role of alternative social and news media for the birth of a conspiracy theory. Social Science Computer Review, 42(5), 1160–1180. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393241246281