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The Patina of Distrust

What People Do with Misinformation

Author Eugenia Mitchelstein, Pablo J. Boczkowski, Maria Celeste Wagner, Facundo Suenzo
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Paperback
$60.00 US
The MIT Press
On sale Oct 28, 2025 | 300 Pages | 9780262550765
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The dynamics of news reception during the 2019 Argentine elections, and how distrust of the media can protect audiences from both misinformation and attempts to correct it.

The year 2016 marked a profound turning point in global politics. In June, the United Kingdom voted in favor of Brexit, choosing to leave the European Union. Just five months later, the United States elected Donald Trump as its president. In the wake of these momentous events, a prevailing narrative emerged, which focused on the role of misinformation in reshaping political landscapes. However, a critical aspect of this phenomenon remained unexplored—the dynamics of reception.

In The Patina of Distrust, Eugenia Mitchelstein, Pablo Boczkowski, María Celeste Wagner, and Facundo Suenzo dive deep into this overlooked facet by zeroing in on the reception of misinformation.

Central to the book is the development of the concept of “patina of distrust.” Much like the protective layer that accumulates over time on artworks, this societal patina serves as a buffer, shielding audiences to some extent from the harmful effects of misinformation and the attempts to rectify it. This book offers a historically grounded mixed methods study of news reception in Argentina’s 2019 presidential election, drawing from interviews, survey data, and experiments. The authors also include a coda that addresses the pandemic and the election of current Argentine president Javier Milei in 2023, bringing the analysis up to date with the current right-wing populist moment.
Acknowledgements
1 Donkeys, Water, and Thirst: The Patina of Distrust in the Reception of Misinformation
Part 1: The Patina in Context
2 “Like Walking on a Slippery Floor”: The Historical Context of the Reception of Misinformation
3 The Playpen and Rotten Fish: The Institutional Context of the Reception of Misinformation
4 “Older than the National Badge”: The Sensemaking Context of the Reception of Misinformation
Part 2: The Patina at Work
5 “A Well-Done Fake News Must Be Credible”: Assessing the Veracity of Misinformation
6 “If I Don’t Share Anything... I Avoid Feeling Like an Idiot Afterwards”: Acting with Misinformation
7 “There Are So Many Lies That It Was Necessary to Invent This Kind of Things”: Interpreting the Practices and Products of Fact-Checking
8 “Given My Age, I’ve Seen So Many Things in My Life That I Don’t Believe in Anything”: Making Sense of the Patina of Distrust
Coda: The Patina of Milei: How This Book Helps Explain the 2023 Presidential Election in Argentina
Appendix A: Demographics of the Survey and Interviewee Samples, Wording of the Survey Items, Experimental Manipulations
Appendix B: Complementary Data for Chapter 3
Appendix C: Complementary Data for Chapter 4
Appendix D: Complementary Data for Chapter 5
Appendix E: Complementary Data for Chapter 6
Appendix F: Complementary Data for Chapter 7
Appendix G: Complementary Data for Coda
Notes
References
Index
Eugenia Mitchelstein is Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Sciences Department and Director of the Communication Degree at the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires.

Pablo J. Boczkowski is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.

María Celeste Wagner is Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Facundo Suenzo is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.
Eugenia Mitchelstein View titles by Eugenia Mitchelstein
Pablo J. Boczkowski View titles by Pablo J. Boczkowski
Maria Celeste Wagner View titles by Maria Celeste Wagner
Facundo Suenzo View titles by Facundo Suenzo

About

The dynamics of news reception during the 2019 Argentine elections, and how distrust of the media can protect audiences from both misinformation and attempts to correct it.

The year 2016 marked a profound turning point in global politics. In June, the United Kingdom voted in favor of Brexit, choosing to leave the European Union. Just five months later, the United States elected Donald Trump as its president. In the wake of these momentous events, a prevailing narrative emerged, which focused on the role of misinformation in reshaping political landscapes. However, a critical aspect of this phenomenon remained unexplored—the dynamics of reception.

In The Patina of Distrust, Eugenia Mitchelstein, Pablo Boczkowski, María Celeste Wagner, and Facundo Suenzo dive deep into this overlooked facet by zeroing in on the reception of misinformation.

Central to the book is the development of the concept of “patina of distrust.” Much like the protective layer that accumulates over time on artworks, this societal patina serves as a buffer, shielding audiences to some extent from the harmful effects of misinformation and the attempts to rectify it. This book offers a historically grounded mixed methods study of news reception in Argentina’s 2019 presidential election, drawing from interviews, survey data, and experiments. The authors also include a coda that addresses the pandemic and the election of current Argentine president Javier Milei in 2023, bringing the analysis up to date with the current right-wing populist moment.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
1 Donkeys, Water, and Thirst: The Patina of Distrust in the Reception of Misinformation
Part 1: The Patina in Context
2 “Like Walking on a Slippery Floor”: The Historical Context of the Reception of Misinformation
3 The Playpen and Rotten Fish: The Institutional Context of the Reception of Misinformation
4 “Older than the National Badge”: The Sensemaking Context of the Reception of Misinformation
Part 2: The Patina at Work
5 “A Well-Done Fake News Must Be Credible”: Assessing the Veracity of Misinformation
6 “If I Don’t Share Anything... I Avoid Feeling Like an Idiot Afterwards”: Acting with Misinformation
7 “There Are So Many Lies That It Was Necessary to Invent This Kind of Things”: Interpreting the Practices and Products of Fact-Checking
8 “Given My Age, I’ve Seen So Many Things in My Life That I Don’t Believe in Anything”: Making Sense of the Patina of Distrust
Coda: The Patina of Milei: How This Book Helps Explain the 2023 Presidential Election in Argentina
Appendix A: Demographics of the Survey and Interviewee Samples, Wording of the Survey Items, Experimental Manipulations
Appendix B: Complementary Data for Chapter 3
Appendix C: Complementary Data for Chapter 4
Appendix D: Complementary Data for Chapter 5
Appendix E: Complementary Data for Chapter 6
Appendix F: Complementary Data for Chapter 7
Appendix G: Complementary Data for Coda
Notes
References
Index

Author

Eugenia Mitchelstein is Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Sciences Department and Director of the Communication Degree at the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires.

Pablo J. Boczkowski is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.

María Celeste Wagner is Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Facundo Suenzo is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.
Eugenia Mitchelstein View titles by Eugenia Mitchelstein
Pablo J. Boczkowski View titles by Pablo J. Boczkowski
Maria Celeste Wagner View titles by Maria Celeste Wagner
Facundo Suenzo View titles by Facundo Suenzo

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