Effects of ideologically biased journalistic treatment in cognitive processing of political information. An experimental approach

Abstract Recognizing the conditions of polarization of the current media market, salient features of the cognitive processing of textual political information of conjunctural importance (real press news from contrasting ideological sources) are addressed. By applying an inter-subject experimental design of random groups (with an independent variable that assumes four levels) without a control group, the effects of ideologically biased journalistic treatment on information processing of local audiences are analyzed. Likewise, the modulating role of variables as ‘need for cognition’ and ‘ideological self-placement’ is valued. Among the main results, a pro-attitudinal pattern and a longer exposure time to non-family sources are confirmed, together with a connection between perception of bias, assessment of the topic and opinion about the source, variable by according to participants’ self-positioning, among other factors that show a selective logic of self-referential and defensive consumption.