TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Lena, Sebastiano Della
AU  - Merlino, Luca Paolo
AU  - Zenou, Yves
        TI  - Affective Polarization, Media Outlets, and Opinion Dynamics
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18823
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18823
        AB  - We study opinion dynamics in a social network consisting of two groups. Agents update their opinions by conforming to members of their own group while rejecting the views of the opposing group (affective polarization), and by listening to a media outlet that may provide biased information. We characterize the long-run opinions and identify when affective polarization and media bias lead to ideological polarization, persistent disagreement, or failures of learning. We also derive when information interventions or censorship improve { the accuracy of average opinions} and reduce disagreement, and when they backfire: better information helps only under specific media bias configurations and when directed to the agents we identify as most effective at propagating it through the network.
        KW  - signed networks
KW  - opinion dynamics
KW  - affective polarization
KW  - group antagonism
KW  - information campaigns
KW  - targeting
        ER  -