Unmasking the Mechanism: How News Media Consumption Drives Conspiracy Beliefs

This study examines how different media types—social, alternative, and mainstream—indirectly influence CT beliefs through populist attitudes and misperceptions on divisive issues. We propose that news exposure impacts these factors, thereby affecting CT beliefs. Using a path analysis on a Belgian survey (n = 2378), we find that populist attitudes and misperceptions mediate the relationship between news consumption and CT beliefs. Alternative and social media increase misperceptions, fueling CT beliefs, whereas mainstream media exposure lowers misperceptions. Exposure to social media encourages populist attitudes, while exposure to mainstream media reduces them. Especially for ideologically extreme individuals, alternative media strongly reinforces populist attitudes. This study clarifies how CT beliefs are directly and indirectly shaped by news consumption patterns, shedding light on the underlying mechanism.