The DOI matches its Crossref record; 35 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Immensely Inflated News Audience: Assessing Bias in Self-Reported News Exposure
Abstract
Many studies of media effects use self-reported news expo- sure as their key independent variable without establishing its validity. Motivated by anecdotal evidence that people's reports of their own me- dia use can differ considerably from independent assessments, this study examines systematically the accuracy of survey-based self-reports of news exposure. I compare survey estimates to Nielsen estimates, which do not rely on self-reports. Results show severe overreporting of news exposure. Survey estimates of network news exposure follow trends in Nielsen ratings relatively well, but exaggerate exposure by a factor of 3 on average and as much as eightfold for some demographics. It follows that apparent media effects may arise not because of differences in ex- posure, but because of unknown differences in the accuracy of reporting exposure.
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“Without access to behavioural measures of exposure, studies must instead rely on survey self-reports that are prone to measurement error24,25.”
From Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing (2023) · cites this paper as [24]
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Appendix A: Household Panel Studies
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Supplementary Information and Methodological Details
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Attention to News on Mobile Devices
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Gaining Access and Losing Information
Dunaway, J., & Searles, K. (2022) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190922504.003.0001
Dunaway, J., & Searles, K. (2022) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190922504.002.0004
Metadata
- Authors
- Prior, M.
- Affiliations
- Princeton University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Prior, Markus
- ORCID
- Prior, Markus
- Venue
- Public Opinion Quarterly
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2009
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 130-143
- ISSN
- 0033-362X (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5331
- OpenAlex
- W2109790075
- Cited by
- 561
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 48.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Public Opinion Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › News Media Framing and Political Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Keywords
- measurement validity, overreporting, Nielsen ratings, network news, media influence, survey accuracy, self-assessment bias, television audience measurement
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