News media source, political orientation of news, and support for political violence

by Robinson SL, Pear V, Schleimer J, Tomsich E, Wright M, Velasquez B, Reeping P, Wintemute G.
June 12, 2026

Quick Summary

News consumption patterns are strongly related to support for political violence. This knowledge could help identify individuals at risk and design deescalating intervention.

About the Research

BRIEF FINDINGS

Using social media, text-based messaging, and right-biased news were each positively associated with support for political violence.
Consuming news via television and middle/balanced media was inversely related to participants’ belief they would use a firearm to advance a political objective.
Neither television nor print media modified the association between social media and political violence support.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Political violence is rising in the US and considered a public health concern. The type and political bias of news media individuals consume may relate to support for political violence, yet few empirical studies have examined these associations. Findings from this large, nationally representative survey suggest that using social media, alt-tech media, or right-biased media as major sources of news is associated with justification of and willingness to participate in political violence as well as believing that one would be armed with or use a firearm to advance a future political objective. Considering these findings, future studies should investigate mechanisms by which social media, alt-tech media, and right-biased media may increase support for political violence to inform prevention efforts.

METHODS

Using responses to 25 questions on media consumption in a nationally representative survey in 2022 (n = 12 974), we classified participants according to the type (print, television, audio, social media, text-based messaging) and political bias (right, middle/balanced, left) of news media they consumed. We examined associations between news media type and political bias and nine political violence outcomes in 2022 using survey-adjusted multivariable logistic regression and assessed whether consuming multiple media types or news with different political biases modified associations.

Citation

Robinson SL, Pear V, Schleimer J, Tomsich E, Wright M, Velasquez B, Reeping P, Wintemute G. News media source, political orientation of news, and support for political violence. AJE Advances: Research in Epidemiology. 2026 Jul.