Using the president's tweets to understand political diversion in the age of social media

This study investigates whether President Trump's Twitter usage diverts media attention from potentially harmful topics. Analyzing *The New York Times* and *ABC News* coverage alongside Trump's tweets, the researchers found that increased media coverage of the Mueller investigation was followed by an increase in Trump's tweets on unrelated issues, subsequently leading to reduced coverage of the Mueller investigation. This pattern was not observed in placebo analyses using Brexit and other topics posing no political risk to the president. The results are robust to various controls, suggesting a potential strategic use of Twitter for diversion, although further research is needed to confirm the generality of this phenomenon.

Stephan Lewandowsky, Michael Jetter, Ullrich K. H. Ecker