Noticed and appreciated? The role of argument diversity in enhancing news credibility and reader satisfaction

Abstract

Although viewpoint diversity is a key value for audiences, journalism and media policy, not much is known about how audiences process and evaluate it. This is critical because any positive effect we might expect from a broad range of views (e.g., on opinion formation) requires that recipients recognize and appreciate it as a part of news content. The current study examines how news readers process and evaluate argument diversity as a specific aspect of viewpoint diversity. In a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subject experiment, 1363 subjects were exposed to news reports containing a diverse or homogenous set of arguments in the context of two currently debated issues (artificial intelligence and immigration). Reports were either published by a single or multiple media outlets to determine potential differences between internal and external argument diversity. We find that readers not only recognize the presence of argument diversity, but that it leads to an increase in overall news satisfaction. This increase can be attributed to a higher credibility of news reports with diverse arguments.