Still Watching, Less Persuaded: Attention to News Reduces Authoritarian Propaganda Effectiveness

State propaganda in autocracies often creates information bubbles, leaving citizens unwilling or unable to switch to alternative sources. This study shows that propaganda's sway can be decreased even without escaping such bubbles. In a panel experiment with 1,176 Russian citizens, we randomly assigned participants to analyze the reporting patterns of (i) propagandistic state-owned TV content only or (ii) both state-owned and balanced non-governmental TV content over four weeks. Two weeks after the intervention, both treatments reduced support for the authoritarian regime but did not undermine trust in or exposure to state media. Exploiting the differences in news channel composition across treatments, we find support for two mechanisms explaining these effects: increased attention to familiar media content and increased consumption of news from non-government sources. Subgroup analyses show that these mechanisms operate primarily among citizens who already exhibit skepticism toward the regime and propaganda.