A new peer-reviewed study published in Scientific Reports (2025) highlights how political ideology influences media sharing on Twitter/X and underscores the value of Media Bias Fact Check (MBFC) in academic research. Titled “Evaluating the relationship between news source sharing and political beliefs,” the study analyzed over 1 million tweets from Argentina’s 2019 election cycle to assess how users’ political leanings correlate with the media outlets they share.
Using a technique called correspondence analysis, the authors developed a Media Sharing Index (MSI) that mapped both users and news outlets onto a shared ideological spectrum. The results revealed a bimodal distribution: users affiliated with Argentina’s center-right coalition mostly shared articles from ideologically aligned outlets, such as Clarín and La Nación, while center-left users, although leaning toward sources like Página 12, showed more diverse media consumption habits.
To categorize the political bias of these media outlets, researchers relied on Media Bias Fact Check as an external, trusted reference. MBFC’s bias ratings were used to validate and interpret the MSI distribution, confirming that the clusters observed in the data aligned with known ideological leanings. For example, outlets classified by MBFC as center-right or left-of-center helped anchor the study’s latent ideological space.
This study demonstrates the growing relevance of MBFC in scholarly work. By providing transparent, consistent bias ratings, MBFC enables researchers to quantify media influence and political behavior in meaningful ways. It’s a reminder that rigorous media classification isn’t just for consumers—it’s essential for advancing the fields of political science and social science.
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