Story perspectives

Negative Political News Boosts Anxiety, Cuts Work Engagement

8/17/2026

Summary

Story summary

Ian M. Hughes ran a nine-week study linking political news to workplace emotions.
308 workers (age 43, ~60 % male) completed surveys Jan 19–Mar 15, 2024, producing 2,772 reports.
Negative political media use raised anxiety, lowering work engagement and increasing self-censoring.
Positive political media use raised hope, boosting work engagement and willingness to help overloaded coworkers.
Authors warned that workers, women and Black participants dropped out more and single-item measures limit generalizability.

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Story summary

Ian M. Hughes ran a nine-week study linking political news to workplace emotions.
308 workers (age 43, ~60 % male) completed surveys Jan 19–Mar 15, 2024, producing 2,772 reports.
Negative political media use raised anxiety, lowering work engagement and increasing self-censoring.
Positive political media use raised hope, boosting work engagement and willingness to help overloaded coworkers.
Authors warned that workers, women and Black participants dropped out more and single-item measures limit generalizability.