News Sources Research Articles

Analyzing patterns of political news evaluation among university students in Northeast Thailand

Through social media and digital platforms, fake news and both professional as well as non-professional news sources are increasingly circulated, thus having a greater impact on people's lives and society. As a result, evaluating news has emerged as a crucial skill. However, it is yet unclear what variables contribute to this increase. To offer more insights, this study attempts to investigate through political news accessibility the factors influencing political news assessment of university students in Northeast Thailand. This study was a quantitative research, and the theory underlying it was news literacy. 1200 samples from undergraduate students from state, private, and autonomous universities were obtained through a multi-stage sampling. 400 questionnaires, utilized as a research tool, were distributed to each type of university for data collection. In order to examine the reliability of the research instrument, Cronbach's alpha was also used in a pre-test stage along with a content validity analysis of the questionnaire. For all elements, the alpha coefficient was 0.93. The findings demonstrated that political news assessment was most influenced by political news accessibility, which is the intervening variable (Beta = 0.265); followed by political news exposure from social media (Beta = 0.217); inner drives for the follow-up of political news (Beta = 0.190); influence of groups and social networks (Beta = 0.170); specific characteristics of the Internet (Beta = 0.151); importance of political news (Beta = 0.147); political news exposure from websites (Beta = 0.099); benefits of political news (Beta = 0.075); and political news exposure from print media (Beta = 0.042). The student characteristic factor, motivation for political news exposure factor, and political news exposure factor accounted for 67.45 percent of the variance in explaining political news evaluation among Thai students, through political news accessibility (R2 = 0.6745). Consequently, improving these elements will lead to better political news evaluation.

Effects of time-varying political connections on loan contracts

PurposeThe authors construct two time-varying political connection (PC) indexes to measure a firm's political tendencies toward ruling and opposing parties and analyze whether a firm with ruling party tendencies obtains better bank loan contracts compared to the contracts obtained by a firm with opposing party tendencies and a firm with fixed PC tendencies.Design/methodology/approachLinguistic text mining is used to construct the two time-varying PC indexes from news sources that reflect the tone and frequencies of characteristic texts to determine a firm's tendencies to favor the ruling or opposing parties.FindingsThe results show that varying PC firms connected to the ruling party receive preferential loan contracts when their political tendencies increase but varying PC firms connected to the opposition party do not. In contrast, fixed PC firms gain similar benefits only when the connection is determined in the presidential election year but not in other years. Firms supporting two parties receive minimal financial rewards in terms of loan terms.Originality/valueIn past studies, once a firm is identified as having a connection with a political party, it is assumed to have PC throughout the sample period (i.e. fixed PC firms). The authors lift this assumption and examine how varying PC affect bank loan contracts. The two time-varying PC indexes can identify a firm's more immediate party tendencies and more precise effects of a firm's party tendencies on bank loan contracts.

Exploring partisans’ biased and unreliable media consumption and their misinformed health-related beliefs

This study explores U.S. adults’ media consumption—in terms of the average bias and reliability of the media outlets participants report referencing—and the extent to which those participants hold inaccurate beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccination. Notably, we used a novel means of capturing the (left-right) bias and reliability of audiences’ media consumption, leveraging the Ad Fontes Media ratings of 129 news sources along each dimension. From our national survey of 3,276 U.S. adults, we found that the average bias and reliability of participants’ media consumption are significant predictors of their perceptions of false claims about COVID-19 and vaccination.

An Analysis of Lagos Audience Perception of Channels Business Morning Programme on Investor Relations

This study analysed the perception of Channels’ Business Morning programme on investor relations in Lagos. The objectives of the study were to: find out the extent of exposure of audience in Lagos to Channels’ Business Morning programme; investigate the perception of audience in Lagos of Channels’ Business Morning and ascertain whether or not the perception of audience in Lagos of Business Morning translates to investment decision. The survey research design was employed for the study. The population of the study was 2,952,861 from selected cities in Lagos, with 384 as the sample size using the Keyton’s table. The questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Among others, the study found out that there is a high level of exposure to Channels’ Business Morning programme in Lagos. It also showed that respondents held positive perception of the programme as a valid and objective source of business news and investment- related information. The researchers recommended that citizens should take advantage of their exposure to financial programmes such as Channels’ Business Morning to continually increase their understanding of finance and investments and improve their financial wellbeing. Corporate organisations should leverage on financial media programmes such as Channels’ Business Morning, to enhance their engagement with shareholders and potential investors by making available accurate and transparent financial information. T

CHALLENGES OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL ERA

This research aims to explorer the of islamic education management in the digital era and the ‎hurdles faced by Islamic education management in adapting to the digital era. A qualitative ‎paradigm and library research design used. The data collection technique performed in this ‎study involves document analysis, encompassing journal articles, proceedings, books, research ‎reports, online news sources, and other relevant materials. The data analysis method employed ‎is content analysis. The findings of present study reveal that the constraints in Islamic ‎education management's response to the digital era primarily revolve around the quality of ‎human resources. These resources have yet to harness digital technology to its fullest ‎potential, resulting in an inability to provide comprehensive digital-based Islamic educational ‎facilities. Furthermore, the competence of Islamic education teachers poses a significant ‎obstacle. Many educators have yet to effectively utilize digital-based learning media in their ‎instructional processes, even as a growing number of students display proficiency in digital ‎technology. Consequently, Islamic education management in the digital era remains ‎comparatively behind general education management.

News of Noam: Unpacking Media Coverage of Chomsky

Media inform and obfuscate. Corporate motives influence how news is neglected, reported, and contextualized. It is informative to examine the extent to which news content varies based on source and period. As a longstanding critic of news media, and a leading public intellectual, Noam Chomsky is a worthy case study. Three author-created, corpora of news articles referencing Noam Chomsky were created. The corpora contained articles from Agence France-Presse (AFP; n = 54), The Associated Press (AP; n = 48), and the Cable News Network Wire (CNNW; n = 6), from the years 2012 to 2022. Number and length analyses, along with hypothesis tests, established the degree of similarity existing among the articles of the three news wire services and periods. Analysis of variance showed that news source was significant in terms of both the number of articles (H2), F(2,6) = 5.916, p = 0.038., and article length (H4), F(2,105) = 23.936, p = 0.000 ( = 0.05). Little commonality in content or framing was established among the three news sources or periods in terms of top words or bigrams of merit. Whereas there were differences in the absolute values and degree of change, each of the three news sources contained a slightly negative average sentiment score when using the AFINN lexicon. The results of this study, while limited to a single case, are illustrative of broader concerns and are potentially useful for those engaged in media studies, politics, rhetoric, organizational management, and the social sciences.

Traditional media versus new media: Between trust and use

The article explores if and to what extent traditional media, namely TV, radio and the printed press, are still more popular than new media when it comes to news consumption within the EU. It also looks at the level of trust in different news sources across EU member states. The article is based on the results of a pertinent Eurobarometer survey and a Reuters Institute study. According to these sources, television is one of the forms of media most used to access news, followed by online news platforms and radio. Trust in the mainstream broadcast and print media is also higher than in online news platforms and social media channels. The findings seek to feed both the public discussion and academic dialogue on media consumption and trust, and convey some compelling empirical data and analysis.

Representation of Information Sources in the Regional News Agenda of the TASS Agency

The article is devoted to the problem of balancing the news agenda within the representation of newsmakers. The paper analyzes approaches to study the institutions and authority representation as news sources, and highlights the fact of the dependence of news editorials on PR-structures as a general trend that has developed in world practice in recent decades. The author analyzes the range of information sources that journalists of the most extensive correspondent network in the country TASS agency have been working with for 10 years. The article discusses various types of information sources, and also presents the author's version of it based on the "Galtung's triangle". According to this, the percentage of the presence in the news various newsmakers — representatives of government, business, and civil society — was calculated using the content analysis method. Data on the share of exclusive information on the agency's feed and its dynamics over 10 years have been obtained, and the difference in this indicator in various federal districts of the Russian Federation was shown. The study demonstrates how often journalists attract additional sources working with press releases. The results indicate a high degree of editorial dependence on regional officials as information sources, as well as the hypertrophied presence in the news of law enforcement agencies, emergency services, etc. The author concludes that the information sources range used by journalists in the regions reflects the dominance of the executive branch; journalists should interact more actively with representatives of the legislature, business structures and civil society.

Sosialisai Stop Hoax: Saring Sebelum Sharing Di SMP Negeri 2 Kandis, Kelurahan Simpang Belutu Kecamatan Kandis, Kabupaten Siak

Easy access to social media has several impacts that can be detrimental to other people. Freedom of opinion is now being misused by irresponsible people, for example by spreading fake news or hoaxes. The flood of information makes it difficult for audiences to determine true information from false information. This research aims to determine the literacy understanding of students at SMP Negeri 2 Kandis regarding hoax news and the factors that influence the development of hoax news. This program used qualitative research with descriptive and discussion methods. This research took place at SMP Negeri 2 Kandis, Simpang Belutu subdistrict. The final results of this program are hoax news can be an influence on the views of young students and the student’s ability to evaluate fake news still at the initial category. There are several influencing factors, among others: fanaticism towards news sources, emotional factors regarding the situation of an incident, factors that are easily influenced and factors that limit the ability to test the truth.)

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.

Empowering women for reducing radicalization in Indonesia

The purpose of this research is to investigate the possibilities of localised female empowerment as a factor supporting deradicalization in Indonesia. Researchers look into the possibilities for deradicalization through localised empowerment of women using descriptive qualitative research methods. Descriptive research means collecting all data related to incidents or situations aligned with the study's theme. That is, by reading and analysing literature sources from regional journals, international articles, and online news sources that discuss women's participation in terrorist acts, women's empowerment in preventing terrorism initiatives, and existing attempts to eradicate terrorism in Indonesia. Using the data or information that has been found, researchers may use the grounded theory technique to explain the causes of a phenomenon, identify its causes and effects, and decide what actions can be implemented in regard to the current situation. The use of localised women's empowerment is thought to have the potential to be an preventative action against the issue of terrorism. Women may be incredibly motivating role models. Women are capable of doing this in the smallest scope, which is the family. Women are able to educate their children and families, provide the concept of tolerance, and spread the love of peace. That is why it is needed to strengthen the laws that may regulate existence of efforts to create deradicalization in local level by involving women in it.

Misinformation, Trust, and Use of Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has been notable for the widespread dissemination of misinformation regarding the virus and appropriate treatment. To quantify the prevalence of non-evidence-based treatment for COVID-19 in the US and the association between such treatment and endorsement of misinformation as well as lack of trust in physicians and scientists. This single-wave, population-based, nonprobability internet survey study was conducted between December 22, 2022, and January 16, 2023, in US residents 18 years or older who reported prior COVID-19 infection. Self-reported use of ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, endorsing false statements related to COVID-19 vaccination, self-reported trust in various institutions, conspiratorial thinking measured by the American Conspiracy Thinking Scale, and news sources. A total of 13 438 individuals (mean [SD] age, 42.7 [16.1] years; 9150 [68.1%] female and 4288 [31.9%] male) who reported prior COVID-19 infection were included in this study. In this cohort, 799 (5.9%) reported prior use of hydroxychloroquine (527 [3.9%]) or ivermectin (440 [3.3%]). In regression models including sociodemographic features as well as political affiliation, those who endorsed at least 1 item of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation were more likely to receive non-evidence-based medication (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.86; 95% CI, 2.28-3.58). Those reporting trust in physicians and hospitals (adjusted OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.56-0.98) and in scientists (adjusted OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.51-0.79) were less likely to receive non-evidence-based medication. Respondents reporting trust in social media (adjusted OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 2.00-2.87) and in Donald Trump (adjusted OR, 2.97; 95% CI, 2.34-3.78) were more likely to have taken non-evidence-based medication. Individuals with greater scores on the American Conspiracy Thinking Scale were more likely to have received non-evidence-based medications (unadjusted OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.06-1.11; adjusted OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.07-1.13). In this survey study of US adults, endorsement of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of trust in physicians or scientists, conspiracy-mindedness, and the nature of news sources were associated with receiving non-evidence-based treatment for COVID-19. These results suggest that the potential harms of misinformation may extend to the use of ineffective and potentially toxic treatments in addition to avoidance of health-promoting behaviors.

Creating a Place in Middle America: How Spanish-Language Local News Serves the Hispanic Community

A fraction of Hispanic people in the U.S. uses Spanish-language news because a language barrier prevents them using English-language news. Functional theory suggests ethnic media serve ethnic community needs ignored by mainstream media. Research on how Spanish-language news serves U.S. Hispanic communities and differs from English-language news typically studies large, politically liberal cities with large Hispanic populations, neglecting Hispanic people living elsewhere. Content analysis of local newscasts to assess differences between network-affiliated, English-language television stations and the Telemundo affiliate serving a mid-sized, midwestern, politically conservative market addresses these limitations. An analytic framework derived from functional theory categorizes community needs as informational and representational. Results show significantly different agendas between Spanish- and English-language news. Spanish-language news airs more human interest and government stories and fewer crime stories. It addresses unique informational needs, helping orient newcomers and airing government stories that sustain ties to Spanish-speaking countries. Regarding representation, results show Hispanic people are invisible to a greater extent than they are negatively portrayed in English-language news. Thus, Spanish-language local television news serves the Hispanic community by making it visible to itself. However, Spanish-language news focuses on the Hispanic community rather than being a general news source, supplementing rather than substituting for English-language news.

Local News Deserts in China: The Role of Social Media and Personal Communication Networks

The field of local news is often associated with news deserts, commonly defined as geo-based communities without newspapers or other legacy media as providers of locally oriented news and civic information. This phenomenon is expanding in global society due to the diminishing presence of newspapers at moments of accelerated digitization. This study examines the multiplex nature of news deserts in rural and suburban areas in China. Data were collected through a multi-methods approach combining two focus groups and 44 semi-structured in-depth interviews. Patterns of engagement among interviewees reveal that smartphone-based social media applications and digital platforms function as viable sources of news, and incidental exposure to news has become the norm of digital news use. Government-orchestrated convergent media services and WeChat channels are preferred choices by most research participants for local news. We argue that a media ecology perspective may be a productive approach to understanding community news and local newspapers.

Working Together (to Undermine Democratic Institutions): Challenging the Social Bot Paradigm in SSIO Research

Unlike most other forms of coordinated, inauthentic behavior occurring online, the goals of state-sponsored information operations, or SSIOs, are often complex and multifaceted. These goals range from flooding conversations with a certain narrative, to increasing the public's engagement with news sources of questionable quality, to stoking tensions between ideologically opposed groups to weaken public trust. The prevailing theoretical framework for understanding SSIOs is to treat them as a social botnet: a behaviorally homogeneous cluster of coordinated activity. However, the social bot framework is both at odds with some of the behaviors observed in early SSIOs and more broadly with the wide swathe of goals these operations set out to accomplish. To examine the fit of the social bot framework in the SSIO context, we develop a novel bag-of-words based method for clustering and describing user activity traces. Applying this method to a comprehensive repository of SSIOs conducted on Twitter over the last decade, we find that SSIOs violate both the core assumption of the social bot framework, and how it is operationalized in practical work. Instead, we find that SSIOs exhibit a clear division of labor and propose cooperative work with social roles as a more effective theoretical framework for understanding SSIOs. Through applying this framework, we find that the roles that SSIO agents take on have become more stable and simple over time, which holds substantial implications for developing methods for detection of these operations in the wild.

Insider Trading in News Deserts

ABSTRACTThis study examines the informational value of local news outlets and how they affect insider trading. We hypothesize that local news coverage is a critical channel through which outsiders acquire local information, which restricts insiders’ ability to profit from their information advantage. We argue that a loss of local news coverage increases information opacity faced by outsiders, while making it easier for insiders to seize profitable trading opportunities. Exploring the staggered shutdown of local newspapers, our difference-in-differences estimation presents novel evidence that insiders from closure counties trade more profitably after local newspaper closures, particularly in small firms that lack alternative news sources. Further analyses reaffirm that the post-closure increase in trading profits is unlikely to be wholly driven by regional economic conditions and is likely driven by increased information costs. Our results highlight that local newspapers play a meaningful role in mitigating information asymmetry between insiders and outsiders.Data Availability: Data used in this study are available from the sources identified in the paper.JEL Classifications: G14; G30; L82.

Root and community inference on the latent growth process of a network

Abstract Many statistical models for networks overlook the fact that most real-world networks are formed through a growth process. To address this, we introduce the Preferential Attachment Plus Erdős–Rényi model, where we let a random network G be the union of a preferential attachment (PA) tree T and additional Erdős–Rényi (ER) random edges. The PA tree captures the underlying growth process of a network where vertices/edges are added sequentially, while the ER component can be regarded as noise. Given only one snapshot of the final network G, we study the problem of constructing confidence sets for the root node of the unobserved growth process; the root node can be patient zero in an infection network or the source of fake news in a social network. We propose inference algorithms based on Gibbs sampling that scales to networks with millions of nodes and provide theoretical analysis showing that the size of the confidence set is small if the noise level of the ER edges is not too large. We also propose variations of the model in which multiple growth processes occur simultaneously, reflecting the growth of multiple communities; we use these models to provide a new approach to community detection.

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.

The Potential for Public Impact in a J Department’s Local Information Ecosystem: Key Ingredients for Starting a Journalism Teaching Hospital

Journalism teaching hospitals have long been a steady source of news in the communities they call home. As these programs have a track record of increasing essential public knowledge and adding vitality to journalism programs, this study mines the knowledge of current and former journalism teaching hospital leaders to ascertain the necessary elements for starting what will be a sustainable program. Critical elements found included a passionate founder, a local coverage gap the program can fill, and support from academic leadership.

Doctors Fact-Check, Journalists Get Fact-Checked: Comparing Public Trust in Journalism and Healthcare

Public trust in journalism has fallen disconcertingly low. This study sets out to understand the news industry’s credibility crisis by comparing public perceptions of journalism with public perceptions of another institution facing similar trust challenges: healthcare. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 31 US adults, we find that although both healthcare and journalism face public distrust, members of the public generally tend to feel more trusting of individual doctors than they do of individual journalists. This is because people (a) perceive doctors to be experts in their field and (b) engage more frequently with doctors than they do with journalists. Consequently, our interviewees described treating their doctors as “fact-checkers” when it comes to health information they find online, demonstrating trust in their physicians despite their lack of trust in healthcare more broadly. Meanwhile, the opposite unfolds in journalism: Instead of using legitimate news sources to fact-check potential misinformation, people feel compelled to “fact-check” legitimate news by seeking alternative sources of corroboration. We conclude that, to improve their credibility among the public, journalists must strike the right balance between persuading the public to perceive them as experts while also pursuing opportunities to engage with the public as peers.