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Trump's tweets 'systematically divert media away from potentially harmful topics', study finds
SKY News UK ^ | November 10, 2020 | by Alexander Martin, Technology Reporter

Posted on 11/10/2020 6:28:49 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

Donald Trump's prolific tweeting masks a strategic use of the social media platform to divert the media from covering topics that are potentially harmful to him, according to new research.

Behavioural scientists at the universities of Western Australia and Bristol have published a peer-reviewed paper into how the US president's messages on Twitter impact news coverage.

The research follows Mr Trump's failure to be re-elected, something that he has responded to by repeatedly claiming on Twitter, without offering any evidence, that he has been the victim of electoral fraud.

The university analysis demonstrates that the president has successfully managed to suppress negative media coverage, including of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, by tweeting about other topics.

Since first announcing his candidacy for the White House in 2015, Mr Trump has published more than 30,000 tweets which have been scrutinised by many academics in numerous independent studies.

There is anecdotal evidence that his tweets have distracted news organisations from stories which could have negatively impacted the president's reputation.

According to the researchers, their analysis "presents empirical evidence that is consistent with the hypothesis that President Trump's tweets systematically divert attention away from a topic that is potentially harmful to him, which in turn appears to suppress media coverage of that topic".

However, they add: "It remains unclear whether the president is aware of his strategic deployment of Twitter or acts on the basis of intuition."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: derangement; notthebabylonbee; syndrome; tds; trump

1 posted on 11/10/2020 6:28:49 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Why post this garbage?


2 posted on 11/10/2020 6:30:39 AM PST by angmo (#joeknew)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Truly pathetic. This is what passes for “science” to dems.


3 posted on 11/10/2020 6:30:40 AM PST by ecomcon
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So a study says that Trump’s tweets are often, “Look, a squirrel!” moments. This from a media that is driven by “Look, a squirrel!” moments.


4 posted on 11/10/2020 6:31:02 AM PST by 17th Miss Regt
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Oh, you mean like bombing an aspirin factory???


5 posted on 11/10/2020 6:34:15 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Potemkin Joe - Everything about him is fake)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"Study finds..."

Key words meaning BS news, created to influence opinion. Right up there with:

"Experts say"

"Aides report"

"Survey finds"

"New poll shows"

"Anonymous sources say"

"Scientists discover"

"Model predicts"

6 posted on 11/10/2020 6:37:31 AM PST by SIDENET (ISAIAH 5:20)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

LS used to note this frequently on Twitter, he called Trump’s “cheese in the maze” tactic.


7 posted on 11/10/2020 6:40:27 AM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

8 posted on 11/10/2020 6:41:36 AM PST by Hatteras
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Uh... these researchers have not noticed that the media only covers topics harmful to Trump?


9 posted on 11/10/2020 6:52:41 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Your home was burglarized and you find your stuff being sold on Craigslist by someone with a criminal history who looks just like the person seen on your neighbor’s surveillance camera in front of your house loading up his van. When you tell the police they are not interested because it is not a “violent crime” and you haven’t got any “evidence”. Is there a parallel meaning for the word “evidence” these days?


10 posted on 11/10/2020 6:52:50 AM PST by fireman15
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

How does Gropin’ Joe keep Big Media from mentioning the Chicom money laundering scam while he was VP?


11 posted on 11/10/2020 7:00:41 AM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: fireman15

WTH? Sky UK - Comcast/NBC Universal.

if President Trump didn’t tweet, there would have been even MORE negative stories about him by the FakeNewsMSM?

not possible unless they’d taken on thousands more “writers”/”reporters”, cos the ones they had did nothing but attack him 24/7, so had no time to write/report more lies.


12 posted on 11/10/2020 7:05:07 AM PST by MAGAthon
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“without offering any evidence” Got to that and stopped reading. With that statement you knew it was a biased BS piece not worth reading since it would not enlighten in any way.


13 posted on 11/10/2020 8:33:23 AM PST by falcon99 (qu)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Indeed they are the weak link in this country parasites are of no use.
They thought Obama was the magic to their answer and all they got was massive unemployment lost homes massive debt ..............


14 posted on 11/10/2020 8:47:24 AM PST by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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