Misinformation Experts Lean Left: Harvard Study

Misinformation Review Study

The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review is a peer-reviewed journal that examines misinformation from different perspectives.

In July 2023, the (HKS) Misinformation Review published a study that surveyed 150 "experts on misinformation from across academia." The surveyed experts included published scholars on "misinformation" and "fake news," MISDOOM program committee members (an international conference on mis/disinformation), French experts on misinformation recruited via the De Facto network, attendees of an International Communication Association (ICA) pre-conference on the future of mis/disinformation studies, and others.

Researchers found that:

96% of experts agreed that partisanship is a key reason why people share misinformation, and 93% of experts also agreed that partisanship is key to explaining why people believe in misinformation.

The political leanings of the surveyed experts were not mentioned in the study proper.

Under Appendix: A, the study authors note:

Experts leaned strongly toward the left of the political spectrum: very right-wing (0), fairly right-wing (0), slightly right-of-center (7), center (15), slightly left-of-center (43), fairly left-wing (62), very left-wing (21).