News Consumption Research Articles

Corrigendum to “The ambivalences of visibility: News consumption and public attitudes to same-sex relationships in the context of illiberalism”

Corrigendum to “The ambivalences of visibility: News consumption and public attitudes to same-sex relationships in the context of illiberalism”

Assessing misinformation recall and accuracy perceptions: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

Misinformation is ubiquitous; however, the extent and heterogeneity in public uptake of it remains a matter of debate. We address these questions by exploring Americans’ ability to recall prominent misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors associated with accuracy perceptions of these claims. Comparing reported recall rates of real and “placebo” headlines, we estimate “true” recall of misinformation is lower than self-reporting suggests, but still troubling. Supporters of President Trump, particularly strong news consumers, were most likely to believe misinformation, including ideologically dissonant claims. These findings point to the importance of tailoring corrections to address key correlates of misinformation uptake.

Tracking the Relationship Between Media Literacy and Political Participation Across Different Generations

Many scholars argue that media literacy is crucial for the development of citizenship and political engagement, especially in the digital environment. While a positive relationship between news consumption and political participation has long been established, we still lack sufficient knowledge on how media literacy influences political participation. Studies about the connection between media literacy and political engagement do not point to a clear relationship between the two. Most studies on media literacy and participation focus on young media users, overlooking generational differences in news consumption. Moreover, studies should also acknowledge the expanding repertoires of political participation in a digitally networked environment. This study uses a news media literacy (NML) scale and an extended political participation scale to analyse the relationship between media literacy and different dimensions of political participation, taking into account generational differences among news audiences. Data from the survey on media literacy is used, and regression analysis is used to assess the relationship between media literacy and political participation. The results are not unequivocally in line with the normative understanding of the relationship between media literacy and civic engagement. Although media literacy education programmes have a positive impact on some forms of political participation, there is no significant relationship between news media literacy and political participation. There is also a generational gap in news media literacy and political participation. The results call for further validation of the NML scale and research of inequalities in news media literacy.

One Year Later, Why Are People Still Avoiding COVID-19 News?: Understanding Predictors of News Avoidance in Indonesia

The global effect of COVID-19 pandemic has continued for almost two consecutive years. Indonesia is also among the countries most impacted by the SARS-CoV2 virus under this period. Consequently, certain challenges tend to occur as regards public interest in accessing or deterring recent information associated with the disease. While there are increasing interests among media and communication scholars in understanding why people are avoiding news, little attention has been given to this audience behaviour during a global crisis like coronavirus outbreak. Using news avoidance as the main concept, this research is aimed at examining the critical factors that influence news avoidance in low-choice media environments, particularly in the Global South like Indonesia. Employing a face-to-face survey with 1,000 participants in Banten Province, Indonesia, this study found that younger people with lesser interest in COVID-19 related issues appear more prone to avoid this news, in addition to their level of news overload. Nevertheless, we also found that gender and the level of education factors did not influence whether people distanced themselves with negative coverage of coronavirus news in the country during the first year of the pandemic. Furthermore, the perception of information overload and minimal trust in news sources greatly contributed to the avoidance situation. Keywords: Audience, COVID-19, news avoidance, news trust, news consumption.

The Shapes of the Fourth Estate During the Pandemic: Profiling COVID-19 News Consumption in Eight Countries

News media is often referred to as the Fourth Estate, a recognition of its political power. New understandings of how media shape political beliefs and influence collective behaviors are urgently needed in an era when public opinion polls do not necessarily reflect election results and users influence each other in real-time under algorithm-mediated content personalization. In this work, we measure not only the average but also the distribution of audience political leanings for different media across different countries. The methodological components of these new measurements include a high-fidelity COVID-19 tweet dataset; high-precision user geolocation extraction; and user political leaning estimated from the within-country retweet networks involving local politicians. We focus on geolocated users from eight countries, profile user leaning distribution for each country, and analyze bridging users who have interactions across multiple countries. Except for France and Turkey, we observe consistent bi-modal user leaning distributions in the other six countries, and find that cross-country retweeting behaviors do not oscillate across the partisan divide. More importantly, this study contributes a new set of media bias estimates by averaging the leaning scores of users who share the URLs from media domains. Through two validations, we find that the new average audience leaning scores strongly correlate with existing media bias scores. Lastly, we profile the COVID-19 news consumption by examining the audience leaning distribution for top media in each country, and for selected media across all countries. Those analyses help answer questions such as: Does center media Reuters have a more balanced audience base than partisan media CNN and Fox News in the US? Does far-right media Breitbart attract any left-leaning readers in any countries? Does CNN reach a more balanced audience base in the US than in UK and Spain? In sum, our data-driven methods allow us to study media that are not often collected in editor-curated media bias reporting, especially in non-English-speaking countries. We hope that such cross-country research would inform media outlets of their effectiveness and audience bases in different countries, inform non-government and research organizations about the country-specific media audience profiles, and inform individuals to reflect on our day-to-day media diet.

Studying U.S. Hispanics: Challenges and Opportunities

This article argues for academic researchers to adopt new methodologies when studying the U.S. Hispanic population’s political participation and civic engagement. For decades scholars have used sound but limiting approaches to study this diverse and ever-growing population segment. As the number of Hispanics participating in U.S. electoral politics increases, so does the need to better understand their attitudes and behaviors. Hispanics now make up a significant portion of the population in battleground states with key Electoral College votes—most notably in states outside of the Southwest. Over the years, robust quantitative studies have provided great insight into the Hispanic electorate; qualitative studies have aided in this pursuit, though they are more limited in scope and number. The growth of technology has brought forth new forms of interpersonal communication and news consumption among citizens, U.S. Latinos included. Recent changes call for us to reexamine our current research methodologies and consider adopting a mixed methods approach.

The puzzle of misinformation: Exposure to unreliable content in the United States is higher among the better informed

Healthy news consumption requires limited exposure to unreliable content and ideological diversity in the sources consumed. There are two challenges to this normative expectation: the prevalence of unreliable content online; and the prominence of misinformation within individual news diets. Here, we assess these challenges using an observational panel tracking the browsing behavior of N ≈ 140,000 individuals in the United States for 12 months (January–December 2018). Our results show that panelists who are exposed to misinformation consume more reliable news and from a more ideologically diverse range of sources. In other words, exposure to unreliable content is higher among the better informed. This association persists after we control for partisan leaning and consider inter- and intra-person variation. These findings highlight the tension between the positive and negative consequences of increased exposure to news content online.

News Consumption in Italy in an Era of Crisis and Innovation: The Decline of Print and TV News

News Consumption in Italy in an Era of Crisis and Innovation: The Decline of Print and TV News

Online news platforms still matter: generational news consumption patterns during the 2020 presidential election

Abstract Purpose Gen Z or younger news audiences are believed to contribute to declining news consumption as a result of decreased news interest and reduced trust, particularly in political news. It can have adverse consequences for democratic processes. This study offers a more nuanced perspective by qualifying the role of context, and generational differences and similarities in online political news consumption patterns before and after the 2020 US presidential election, which witnessed a series of unprecedented events in the country’s history. Design/methodology/approach To investigate these patterns, I use US aggregated website visitation data from Comscore in a quasi-experimental interrupted time series design, leveraging the 2020 election as a natural experimental condition. Findings While Gen Z are indeed consuming considerably less news, contrary to assumptions, there was significantly increased engagement with news websites following the election. Additionally, media audiences across generations are likely to reduce social media use during such events. Implications Major political events can significantly influence media use patterns such as the extent of news consumption in general and political news in particular, something not often considered in media effects-oriented research. There is also an urgent need to review and reassess our definitions of news, news sources, and its audience. Originality/value By using observational data in a quasi-experimental design, this study offers a more precise and refined perspective of generational patterns of online political news consumption in the context of a major political event that both corroborates as well as challenges some our existing notions of media use.

Exploring the news media-dark personality nexus: Linking television news consumption, the Dark Triad, and perceived refugee threat

We examine the intricate relationship between media usage, personality traits, and perceived threat towards refugees. Using a diverse sample from six European countries (N = 9,085), we explore the moderating impact of Dark Triad traits on television news consumption. Our findings align with prior studies, indicating that public television news consumption is associated with lower perceived threat, while commercial news consumption shows the opposite pattern. These results likely stem from the divergent framing of migration in the media: public outlets emphasize compassion and integration, while commercial outlets lean towards sensationalism and fear-inducing narratives. Additionally, our study uncovers intriguing insights into the Dark Triad traits. While psychopathy is linked to heightened perceived threat, Machiavellianism and narcissism exhibit a negative association. Surprisingly, the positive relationship between commercial news consumption and perceived threat weakens among individuals high in Machiavellianism. These individuals, driven by self-interest and strategic thinking, may view refugees as potential resources rather than threats. Notably, we find no moderation effect of Dark Triad traits on public service news consumption. This suggests that sensationalized content resonates more with individuals high in these traits, while public service news, focusing on diverse perspectives, has a weaker impact on threat perceptions.

News Closures, Trust, and Community Attachment among Regional News Audiences: A Case Study of Australia

ABSTRACT Local media play a critical role in providing information and opportunities for citizens to participate and feel attached to their local community. In recent years, there has been a decline in local news outlets and the provision of local news, which can impact residents’ sense of community. Findings from an online survey of 2,038 Australian regional news audiences conducted in 2019 reveal that local news consumption and engagement with local organisations are positively related to feelings of community attachment. On the other hand, closures of local news outlets have had a negative impact on news audiences’ attachment to their community. Trust was found to play an important mediating role between news consumption, engagement with community organisations, and community attachment. These findings highlight the importance of the provision of local news and information, and audiences’ trust in them, in engendering community attachment. The study provides valuable theoretical and practical implications regarding the impact of news outlet closures on community wellbeing in the absence of credible alternatives.

“Everything is Biased”: Populist Supporters’ Folk Theories of Journalism

Populist supporters have a complex relationship with journalism (e.g., embracing elites’ negative rhetoric, yet consuming news profusely). This study explores this relationship. The notion of folk theories informs an inductive analysis of thirty-three in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 with right-wing and left-wing populist supporters in the United States and Spain to understand how they (RQ1) make sense of their news consumption habits and (RQ2) navigate the current high-choice media environment to stay informed. Findings reveal three interconnected folk theories that populist supporters drew from in explaining their news consumption: (1) “everything is biased,” (2) “it’s a way of seeing what other people think,” and (3) “it’s a pleasurable source of information.” Findings additionally support an important role of emotion underlying these folk theories, which helped participants reconcile their negative views of journalism with the pleasure they derived from meeting ingrained normative democratic ideals.

Push notifications and news snacking: The impact of mobile news alert framing on reader engagement

How news media, such as newspapers and magazines, is consumed has dramatically changed due to technological developments, such as mobile and high-speed Internet technology. As a result, there has been a dramatic shift in consumer consumption of news from desktop and television to mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets. Due to the shift of news consumption from desktop and television platforms to mobile, journalists have had to consider how news headlines and alerts must be tailored to match the distinctive characteristics of mobile platforms and consumers’ engagement patterns on such devices. Drawing on construal theory (CLT), this study will examine how mobile alerts should be framed to optimize engagement. Overall, it finds a combination of abstract construal through combination of a gain and other frames results in heightened levels of curiosity in readers leading to further engagement with news products.

News consumption, expressive social media activities, political discussions, and political consumerism: examining reciprocal relations with panel data

ABSTRACT Empirical studies have shown that news consumption, expressive social media activities, and political discussions are positively related to political consumerism. However, political consumerism is usually conceptualized as boycotting and/or buycotting, neglecting discursive and lifestyle political consumerism. Moreover, most studies are based on cross-sectional data and do not explore potential reciprocal relationships. To address these research gaps, I conducted a three-wave panel survey targeting the German population (N = 1,945). The results of the confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the theoretical conceptualization of political consumerism as a multifaced phenomenon is empirically plausible. Applying the O-S-R-O-R model, partial correlations and random intercept cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that the reciprocal relationships between information, communication, and political consumerism activities differ depending on which political consumerism activity is considered: expressive social media activities predict boycotting, information and communication activities do not predict buycotting, political discussions and discursive political consumerism tend to reinforce each other, and political discussions follow rather than predict lifestyle political consumerism. These results emphasize the differences between various political consumerism activities and suggest that such activities should be analyzed separately.

“CNN Can Kiss My As$”

News consumption in the United States is polarized and fragmented, with an abundance of partisan news publications appealing to political identities on both the left and the right. Yet, there is an abundance of hyperpartisan news on the right, the content of which has been shown to be harmful to democracy. This study captures one of the most comprehensive pictures to date of the U.S. Americans who consume far-right media and makes connections between such media use and the state of American democracy. After a lengthy data-cleaning process, we analyzed open-ended survey responses from a nationally representative sample of more than 10,000 U.S. American adults, finding that nearly ten percent self-report at least one far-right news outlet as a primary news source. Furthermore, significantly more U.S. Americans report consuming far-right and moderate-right news outlets than counterparts on the left. We then examined the characteristics of this small but significant group, given the current political climate in the United States, finding that far-right news consumers are overwhelmingly white, male, Republican, Christian, and without a college degree. This study reinforces previous findings that patterns in hyperpartisan media usage demonstrate growing extremism in the U.S., and that it is deeply rooted in identity.

“Remember that?” A temporal perspective on how audiences make sense of the news

Despite its recent turn towards audience studies, journalism and political communication research rarely considers how meanings are made from news in the context of everyday life. The relationships between news consumption and time are also understudied, except when the emphasis is on speed. In this study, I seek to answer the question: how do one’s past news engagements (and sometimes, anticipations of future events) shape how this person interprets a news story? I present findings from fieldwork conducted with 42 participants in the Chinese-Canadian community in the Toronto area, including more than 80 hours of in-depth interviews and 42 “news diaries” collected from each participant. The findings are organized into a typology of news meaning-making in time: gathering, threading, weaving, and fitting. Implications of this typology for understanding perceptions of misinformation and promoting public engagement with the news are discussed.

A.I. as a Medium: The Curation and Consumption of Online News Against the Background of Media Convergence

In recent years, with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology (SAS,2023), the journalism industry has gradually produced a new mode of operation which, coinciding with the Covid-19 period (WHO,2020), has led to the explosive growth of the online news industry. People are beginning to popularize and follow up their attention to online news. In particular, the category of news media with the background qualities of integrated media is gradually entering into the public's view and becoming an important part of people's lives. On current social media platforms, the constructs of online news consumption and curation have rapidly evolved to become an important part of journalism. This development has to some extent contributed to the progress and reform of ‘online news' in the context of integrated media in the age of AI. In contrast, there are also potential online news consumers and curators in the journalism industry who are exhibiting new characteristics and working modes in line with the AI era.

The Impact Of Misinformation In Social Media That Caused Panic Behavior On Covid-19 Pandemic Among University Students In Ipoh, Perak

Social networking has become a regular part of everyone's life. Nowadays, practically everyone uses social media and messaging platforms for communication, especially university students who frequently use smartphones and other devices for social interaction and communication. Due to this, university students began to believe the information shared on social media without verifying its accuracy. The veracity of the information shared on social media is unconfirmed for a number of reasons. Some of the false information spread has led to students at the university behaving panicked. As a result, the focus of this study will be on the effect of misleading news on Covid-19 among Malaysian university students. This will help to ensure that the study's goals, which include determining how social media misinformation influences university students' behaviour and fostering the spread of fear about COVID-19 in Malaysia, are successfully attained. In due to that the study uses quantitative methodology as its main research approach. Information was gathered by the researcher from university students using online surveys. The findings of this study indicated that disinformation disseminated via social media platforms, particularly the amplifying of dread that resulted in increased worry and anxiety, was likely to have an impact on university students in Ipoh, Perak. In order to discover the trends that may spread to other new consumers, particularly with the increased adoption of mobile connectivity, this study should be continued by focusing on the behavioural patterns and attitudes of this news consumption segment.

정보과잉 요인과 뉴스 소비 패턴의 관계 : 티핑 포인트의 역할을 중심으로

정보과잉 요인과 뉴스 소비 패턴의 관계 : 티핑 포인트의 역할을 중심으로

Algorithmic indifference: The dearth of news recommendations on TikTok

The role of recommendation systems in news consumption has been hotly contested. From one perspective, the combination of personalized recommendations and practically limitless content diminishes news consumption, as people turn to more entertaining fare. From another, algorithmic systems and social networks heighten incidental exposure, raising opportunities for news consumption regardless of explicit individual interest. In this work, we examine the potential for algorithmic exposure to news on TikTok, a massively popular social network built around short-form video. In the context of US-based news audiences, we examine the accounts TikTok recommends, the videos it shows new users, and its trending hashtags. We find almost no evidence of proactive news exposure on TikTok’s behalf. We also find that, while TikTok’s algorithms respond slightly to active signals of news interest from simulated users, that response does not lead to increased exposure to credible news content. These findings highlight a lack of algorithmic news distribution on TikTok.