Lucas Paulo da Silva

How Liverpool’s Boycott of The Sun Changed Politics – The Science Matters Can a football tragedy reveal the true power of media influence? Discover how Liverpool reshaped politics when it turned away from a powerful tabloid.

Can a football tragedy reveal the true power of media influence? Discover how Liverpool reshaped politics when it turned away from a powerful tabloid. By Lucas Paulo da Silva, University of Zurich @lucas-p-dasilva.bsky.social

Article: thesciencematters.org/how-liverpoo...
@tcddublin.bsky.social

We'll use #computational research methods, digital #trace data, #surveys, and other methods to measure #negativity in the #news and how this influences people's news #avoidance, political #knowledge, and mental #well-being.

I'm delighted to start a new job as a research scientist at the University of Zurich! 😃🇨🇭

I am joining a really cool SNSF-funded project (see below) led by @annisch.bsky.social. I'll also work on other computational research about online media and public opinion. 💻📰📺📻📱

@ikmz.bsky.social #Zurich

Thrilled to say that I submitted my PhD dissertation! 😀

It measures the ideological structure of 324 online news outlets and tests the effects of this structure on voting.

I find large ideological gaps in media markets and powerful effects of these gaps over public opinion and how we vote. 📺💻📱📠

Enjoyed my first APSA conference in beautiful #Vancouver!

We're all very interested in media effects. But my paper uses original #survey #experiments and panel data to study how cross-pressured audiences select political #media in the first place. 📺📻💻📱📰

#APSA2025 @polcomm.bsky.social #APSA

🎙️ Exciting news! Lucas Da Silva, one of our PhD students in the Political Science Department joined @seanmoncrieff.bsky.social on @newstalkfm.bsky.social to discuss his research.

Tune in to the interview here: link.goloudplayer.com/s/pGnJ3uW3vxTA

#TCD #PoliticalScience #Newstalk #AcademicResearch

Did the Liverpool boycott of The Sun change voting attitudes?

Check out my radio interview with @newstalkfm.bsky.social yesterday!🎙️ We discussed my #research on how #media influences #voting, including my natural experiment based on the Sun boycott in #Liverpool. It was a cool experience, thanks Newstalk! 😀

@lfcr.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/episode/3LjB...

Moncrieff | Newstalk Join Sean Moncrieff for a lively mix of phone-ins, insightful text messages and stories from around the world and down your street. Every weekday from 2pm - ...

Tune in to @newstalkfm.bsky.social today around 2:45pm to hear my interview about how media influences elections. 🎙️ 📺 📻 💻 📱 📰 You can listen in Ireland on Newstalk radio (106-108FM) or from anywhere in the 🌍 on Newstalk's website (live), Spotify, and other platforms:
www.newstalk.com/shows/moncri...

@uk.theconversation.com @theconversation.com @yahoonews.com

Now more than ever, it's important for academics to showcase the real value of our research. The general public should be our stakeholders. That means doing relevant research and broadcasting it beyond the ivory tower. 🏫

Did the Sun boycott make Liverpool more leftwing? My study indicates it may have shifted views The boycott caused the percentage of people who said they supported the Labour party to increase by about 16 percentage points.

My article was published on The Converation and Yahoo News! 🙌 It talks about the longlasting political effects of the boycott of The Sun newspaper in Liverpool (based on results from my recent Political Behavior study). 📰👕 Check it out!

#LFC #politics

theconversation.com/did-the-sun-...

My favorite quote from my upcoming study (which maps the ideology of global media) has gotta be:

"My eventual dataset represents 26 countries from all continents except Antarctica."

Sorry, penguins!🐧

Thanks @comptext.bsky.social for a great conference in #Vienna! I presented (1) a new method -- "MQ-Class" -- for LLM-classifying the full spectrum of media ideology and (2) my project mapping the 2D structure of global media ideology. Great people, panels, and most importantly food!

#COMPTEXT2025

🧐New Research 🧐

How does the media affect the way we vote? PhD Researcher
@lucas-p-dasilva.bsky.social explores this in a new article published by @polbehavior.bsky.social 👏

🔗Read the article here: tinyurl.com/yc622vhu

#politics #polscisky #politicalscience

Thanks so much! It helps to have two great PhD supervisors, @janberz.bsky.social and @cboussalis.bsky.social 😃

Thanks also to @florianfoos.bsky.social and Daniel Bischof for identifying this great treatment in doi.org/10.1017/S000305542100085X 👏

It was really a pleasure to work with you @polbehavior.bsky.social! 😊

People often assume that media influences elections by changing our opinions. I find that the effect mostly occurs through outlets changing our *perceptions of party positions*.

If you want to avoid media influence, watch out for how your favorite outlets depict party positions! 📺💻📰🎧

🧵 3/3

Using DiDiD, I find that the boycott of the right-wing Sun newspaper caused people in Liverpool to:
🟦 perceive the Labour Party (@teamlabouruk.bsky.social) as considerably more moderate 🔍
🟦 become somewhat more left-wing ⬅️
🟦 support the Labour Party more 🗳️

🧵 2/3

To examine how media outlets influence our voting behavior, I use a natural experiment — the Liverpool boycott of the popular Sun newspaper (from 1989 to now) after The Sun falsely blamed the Hillsborough stadium crush on Liverpool F.C. supporters. @lfcr.bsky.social @liverpoolecho.co.uk

🧵 1/3

@tcdssp.bsky.social @ecpr.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social

Research article about media influence and voting in the journal Political Behavior

Thrilled that my paper is now published by @polbehavior.bsky.social! Using a natural experiment—the Sun boycott—I show how media may shape our voting mostly by changing our perceptions of party positions. Media matters! 🗳️

Read here: doi.org/10.1007/s111...

@tcddublin.bsky.social #mediabias #vote

📝 New Research 📝

PhD Research @lucas-p-dasilva.bsky.social has published an article with The Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. 👏

Read the article 👉 tinyurl.com/45npvhma

@tcdssp.bsky.social @trinityresearch.bsky.social #polscisky #politicalscience

Curious about how media influences voting behaviour? 🤔🗳️ This month on PhD Perspectives we chat to Lucas Da Silva, who tells us about his research on how media affects cross-pressured voters- those with conflicting economic & cultural views.

Read about his research here 🔽
www.tcd.ie/Political_Sc...