Summary: A new study shows that the newspapers people read are strong predictors of their automatic, unconscious biases toward autism—even after accounting for age, education, political views, and personal experience. Readers of right-leaning tabloid outlets showed more negative automatic biases, reflecting the more stereotyped and less frequent coverage of autism in these publications.
The study also found that people who trust newspapers uncritically tend to have less accurate knowledge about autism. These findings highlight how media exposure shapes both subtle biases and public understanding, with implications for neurodiversity acceptance and mental wellbeing.
Key Facts
- Media Matters: About 10% of differences in unconscious autism bias were linked to newspaper reading habits.
- Bias Pattern: Frequent readers of right-leaning tabloids showed stronger negative automatic biases.
- Trust Gap: People who trust newspapers more tended to have less accurate knowledge about autism.
Source: City St George University of London
A new study from City St George’s, University of London has found that people’s newspaper reading habits are a reliable predictor of their attitudes towards autism, even when many other factors such as age, education, political views and personal experiences are taken into account.
The research, published in the journal Autism, reveals that around 10% of the differences in automatic, unconscious bias were linked to what newspapers people read. People who read right-leaning tabloid papers more often showed stronger negative automatic biases towards autism.
By using an innovative analytical approach, the study introduces a new way to understand how media and audiences can shape one another, and it underlines the importance of media literacy, as participants who trusted newspapers uncritically tended to have less accurate knowledge about autism.
What the study did
The study builds on earlier work by the group – led by Dr Themis Karaminis, lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at City St George’s – which analysed 24,000 British newspaper pieces and showed that autistic people are portrayed in newspapers predominantly using stereotypes and negative language. This was especially true in some right-leaning and tabloid newspapers, which also mentioned autism less often than left-leaning broadsheets.
To find out more about how newspaper preference influenced autism attitudes, the authors surveyed 277 non-autistic adults based in the UK. Participants reported how often they read ten major British newspapers – Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, The Sun, and The Times – and how much they trusted each one.
Participants also completed questionnaires assessing their knowledge about autism and their explicit attitudes towards autistic people. Finally, they took part in a word-based task designed to reveal automatic and less conscious biases and associations about autism.
Information on age, gender, education, political leanings and contact with autistic people was also provided. The authors analysed the data using a novel analytical approach that enabled them to separate out the influence of media from these other factors.
What you read and trust matters
The study found clear links between reading habits and people’s attitudes, particularly their automatic and less conscious biases assessed with the word-based task. Around 10% of the differences in these biases were linked to participants’ newspaper reading habits.
- People who frequently read right-leaning tabloids were more likely to show negative automatic biases towards autism, which is consistent with the more negative coverage of autism in this part of the press.
- But some of the readers who trusted these same outlets reported relatively positive explicit attitudes about autism in the questionnaires. This mismatch could suggest that even when people consciously reject stereotypes, they might hold negative biases related to their reading preferences.
- Finally, people who expressed higher trust in newspapers tended to have less accurate knowledge about autism, suggesting they may be less inclined to question or cross-check the information they encounter.
Dr Karaminis, senior author of the study, said:
“The new study is an early step in teasing apart the many factors that relate to how the public thinks about autism, and in understanding how media fit within a wider landscape of social influences that hinder acceptance of autistic people and affect their mental wellbeing.
“The findings highlight that newspaper reading habits are a robust predictor of public attitudes—at least in the context of autism—even when many other factors are taken into account. This is significant in an era where public awareness about neurodiversity is growing, yet misleading or sensationalised stories, such as unfounded claims linking autism to common medicines, continue to make headlines.”
The findings also informed written evidence submitted to the House of Lords Committee on the Autism Act 2009 and included in the Committee’s final report, Time to Deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the New Autism Strategy, published in November 2025.
Key Questions Answered:
A: Reading patterns—especially frequent engagement with right-leaning tabloids—predict stronger negative unconscious biases toward autism.
A: People may consciously reject stereotypes while still holding automatic biases shaped by repeated media exposure.
A: Higher trust in newspapers was linked to less accurate autism knowledge, suggesting reduced skepticism toward biased or incomplete reporting.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this Autism research news
Author: George Wigmore
Source: City St George University of London
Contact: George Wigmore – City St George University of London
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The relationship between newspaper reading preferences and attitudes towards autism” by Themis Karaminis et al. Autism
Abstract
The relationship between newspaper reading preferences and attitudes towards autism
Newspapers – particularly certain tabloid and right-leaning publications – often perpetuate negative stereotypes of Autistic people.
This study examined how newspaper reading preferences relate to public attitudes towards autism.
A sample of 277 UK-based non-autistic adults completed an online survey reporting demographic information, newspaper reading habits (print or online) and trustworthiness ratings for 10 major British newspapers.
Participants also completed measures of autism-related knowledge and explicit attitudes towards autism, and an implicit bias task.
Data were analysed using generalized additive models weighted by newspaper exposure, along with hierarchical partitioning to estimate the variance explained by reading preferences and other factors.
Newspaper-related factors accounted for 4.5% of the variance in explicit attitudes and 10.7% in implicit attitudes. Crucially, selective engagement with right-leaning tabloids was associated with more negative implicit attitudes.
Furthermore, selective trust in these outlets predicted relatively favourable explicit but relatively negative implicit attitudes. Overall trust in newspapers was also linked to less accurate autism knowledge. T
hese findings suggest that engagement with media sources portraying autism more negatively is linked to more negative implicit biases towards Autistic people, even when explicit attitudes remain relatively favourable.
Future research should explore causal mechanisms and the broader influence of media ecosystems on public perceptions of autism.
