Political orientation of online media sources and reporting of Covid-19 vaccine myocarditis

Abstract

Background Political orientation may play a formative role in perceptions of risk associated with COVID-19 vaccination including vaccine myocarditis (CVM). Whether political alignment of news sources plays a role in perception of this risk is unknown. Objective We examined the relationship between political orientation of online media sites and aspects of reporting of CVM. Methods Media sites were classified as “left” or “right" biased using the Allsides media bias rating report. For each site “COVID vaccine myocarditis” was searched in articles posted May 2021 to December 2022. Each search return was reviewed for the following: 1) Did it contain numerical data regarding CVM risk? 2) Did it report benefits of covid vaccination? 3) Did it mention covid infection-related myocarditis? Monthly reports of vaccine-related adverse events were obtained from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). Results A total of 487 online reports regarding CVM were reviewed. Comparison of monthly report volumes from left vs. right biased media sources demonstrated significant correlation (r = 0.546, p = 0.013). Additionally monthly reporting of CVM was temporally related to monthly volume of VAERS reporting (r = 0.519, p = 0.023). These data suggest that monthly reporting volumes were driven by availability of information regarding CVM rather than media political alignment. Left biased media sources were significantly more likely to include numerical CVM data vs. right biased sources (76.6% vs. 24.3%, p<0.001) and likewise were more likely to include data supporting benefits of covid vaccination (85.1% vs. 21.7%. p<0.001). In contrast, there was no difference regarding mention of COVID-19 infection-related myocarditis (24.5% vs. 24.3%, p = 0.957). Conclusion Political orientation of online news sites was not associated with frequency of CVM reports but was related to report content, most notably whether reports included numerical data regarding CVM risk. These differential reporting characteristics may contribute to the relationship between political orientation and patient conceptualization of risk of CVM.