Research paper

Research Study – Florida International University – Spring, 2021 Part I: Imagine you saw the following Facebook Page. Carefully read EVERYTHING on this page, as we

will ask you about your impressions on the next page of this survey.

Corey McMillan

Corey McMillan

This may not make you CNN lovers very happy!

CNN News is no longer a licensed news station according to the Federal

Communication Commission. They had to change their license from

“news” to “entertainment.” That’s right! They legally don’t have to provide

any facts in their reporting anymore. CNN is in the same category as

Saturday Night Live, Tiger King, and Swamp People.

If you don’t believe me, look it up yourself!

AmericanPolitics.com

FCC Forces CNN to change its accreditation from "news" to

"entertainment."

Peyton Halliburton You know the story you shared is fake news, right? I saw the same article

flagged as false the other day by independent fact checkers from Facebook.

Riley Anderson Peyton is right. Unlike broadcast TV channels, cable news networks like Fox

News, CNN, and MSNBC aren’t “licensed” like you imply. There is no

government organization (like the FCC) that can take away a cable “news”

license because such licenses never existed for cable stations.

Corey McMillan You gave me some stuff to think about. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The

government doesn’t regulate cable news networks. I told you to look it up if

you didn’t believe me (Then I did a quick google search myself and found out

you were correct!). Although the US government should hold news stations

to really high standards when it comes to accuracy and truthfulness, cable

news isn’t regulated. I don’t like it when people call something fake news just

because if it doesn’t support their own point of view, but in this case the story

I shared was fake.

PA

Part II: Rate your impressions of Corey McMillan, the Facebook page owner and original poster)

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Corey seems like a reasonable person

2. Corey seems like a polite person

3. Corey seems like an open-minded person

4. Corey seems to lack civility

5. Corey seems like a rude person

6. Corey seems tolerant of opposing opinions

7. Corey seems willing to mock other’s opinions

8. Corey seems like a likeable person

Part III: Rate your impressions of the comments posted on Facebook by Corey McMillan (the original

Facebook poster) and the replies by Peyton Halliburton and Riley Anderson.

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Before reading the comments, I suspected the story of “CNN losing its news license” was fake

2. After reading the comments, I believe the story of “CNN losing its news license” is fake

3. If I saw this Facebook conversation on my own social media, I would add my own comment

4. I think Peyton and Riley unfairly confronted Corey in their replies to Corey’s original post

5. Reading Corey’s last post made me feel angry

6. Reading Corey’s last post made me feel hope

7. I would be willing to engage in a back-and-forth conversation with Corey

Part IV: Please provide the following demographic information. Note: You can leave blank any

question you feel uncomfortable answering.

1. What is your gender (Mark one with an X)? _____ Male _____ Female

2. What is your age? __________

3. What is your race/ethnicity? (Mark one with an X):

___ Caucasian ___ Hispanic American ____ Native Indian ___ African American

___ Asian American Other: __________________ (Please Indicate)

4. Is English your first language? (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes _____ No

If no, what is your first language? __________________

5. Are you a student at FIU (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes ______ No

6. What is your political affiliation? _____ Republican _____ Democrat _______ Other

Part V: Finally, in the last comment, how did Corey respond to Peyton and Riley? (Select one)

_____ Corey rudely disagreed that the shared CNN story was fake

_____ Corey politely disagreed that the shared CNN story was fake

_____ Corey politely agreed that the shared CNN story was fake