News quality and public opinion: The impact of deliberative quality of news media on citizens' argument repertoire

This article investigates the impact of the deliberative quality of online news items on argument repertoire. Participants in an online experiment (N = 557) read a news item that covers a local debate on underground CO₂ storage. Two dimensions of deliberative quality are manipulated: justification, or the extent to which arguments in the news item are substantiated, and constructive debate climate, that is, the extent to which stakeholders are reported to work together toward a solution. The findings suggest that public opinion quality would be higher, if news media would better meet deliberative standards.