Does Mass Media Echo Chamber Mediate on Biased Script Assimilation, Fact-Checking Journalism, And Voting Preferences?

Abstract

In this digital era, the impact of mass media in electioneering activities cannot be underestimated in every country that practices a democratic system of government. In mass media domain, echo chamber's effect on fact-checking journalism, biased script assimilation, and voting preference appeared to lack an empirical investigation, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria. To fill this extant gap, this study aims to evaluate the mediating role of mass media echo chambers on fact-checking journalism, biased script assimilation, and voting preference in Nigeria. To realize this aim, a quantitative study was implored to ascertain the mediation mechanism and infer the study’s findings. The outcomes of the study demonstrated that mass media echo chambers fully mediated the relationships between fact-checking journalism, biased script assimilation, and voting preference respectively. Thus, we strongly recommend using mass media for politicking since it provides an avenue for the preferred candidates’ fact-checking and countering assimilated biased scripts on the voters’ choice of candidates. Furthermore, the results on the individual factors’ contribution to voting preference also established that the mass media echo chamber contributed the most to the voting preference. Consequently, it has proven to be an indispensable asset in persuading voters’ choice of candidates in election.