Epistemic Vulnerability: Theory and Measurement at the System Level

• In Event: Poster Session: Political Communication 2

Abstract

Research about the epistemic crisis has largely treated epistemic threats in isolation, overlooking what they collectively say about the health of news environments. This study integrates the literature on epistemic problems and proposes a broadly encompassing framework that departs from the traditional focus on falsehoods: Epistemic vulnerability. This framework is an attempt to more fully capture the erosion of authority and value of political information that has put stress on the public spheres of many democracies. The study develops the EV index to capture this phenomenon at the system level in a comparative manner. Using OLS regression, I test the relationships between the EV index and various structural characteristics of political and media systems. Findings are remarkably consistent with established typologies of media systems. Northern European countries exhibit greater epistemic resilience, while the US, Spain, and Eastern Europe are more vulnerable. The study also offers strong evidence that populism, ideological polarization, and political parallelism contribute to higher levels of epistemic vulnerability. Conversely, public media viewership and larger party systems are associated with more epistemically resilient news environments. The study bears important implications for the field of political communication, and the study of disinformation and democratic health.

Author

• Julien Labarre, California State University, Dominguez Hills