Media coverage and public attention to “fake news”: The moderating role of economic conditions and market-oriented media systems

Fake news represents a threat to our society since people can face unverified and sensational information. News media can play a crucial role in disclosing and correcting misinformation. This paper argues that higher media coverage can anticipate an increase in public attention to the issue of fake news. Such relationship can be moderated by the country’s economic conditions and by the type of media system. We provide an original dataset and perform regression models for panel data on 12 countries, spanning from January 2016 to December 2022. The results indicate that the public will pay higher attention to the issue of fake news when media coverage on these topics increases; during economic turmoil the positive association between media coverage and public attention is higher; furthermore, the role of media coverage is stronger in countries with public-backed media as state sponsorship of the media strengthens their agenda-setting power.