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Abstract
Focus groups in three cities were conducted with young adults (ages 18–29) to understand why they don't read daily print newspapers. The study examined news media avoidances, like “inconvenience” and “lack of time,” to uncover underlying meanings. Results showed prominent nonuse reasons have dimensions. Participants also suggested ways newspapers could improve. Participants were studied as two age groups, 18–24 and 25–29. Small group differences did emerge. The older group wanted less negative news, while the younger group justified it; the younger age group was more skeptical of the news and mentioned needing greater effort to understand it.
... A link also exists between community-focused news stories and subsequent community satisfaction with the newspaper (Hansen & Hansen, 2011). For young readers, relevance of news stories is critical to readership -the more relevant to a reader's life, the more likely they are to read (Zerba, 2011). Young adults feel that newspaper stories in general, are more relevant to older people; however, if they know someone featured in the newspaper, they are more likely to read it (Zerba, 2011). ...
... For young readers, relevance of news stories is critical to readership -the more relevant to a reader's life, the more likely they are to read (Zerba, 2011). Young adults feel that newspaper stories in general, are more relevant to older people; however, if they know someone featured in the newspaper, they are more likely to read it (Zerba, 2011). ...
... In other words, those who feel they are a part of the community will consume news about the community more than those who feel less included. This would follow previous research linking readership with stories about the community (Zerba, 2011). On the other hand, efficacy is often a dependent variable in research about the effects of readership (Jeffres, Atkin, & Neuendorf, 2002). ...
Using a mixed-method approach, this project examines whether readers’ tastes and attitudes toward the North Texas Daily, a campus newspaper at the University of North Texas have changed between 2013 and 2019 when the newspaper implemented digital-first strategies. Survey results indicate that perceptions of relevance of the content have remained the most significant factor for readership. Moreover, an in-depth textual analysis revealed themes of community engagement and alienation, which also affected readership. Normative and industry implications of the findings are discussed.
... Due to their different physical nature, print newspapers were also manipulated, controlled, and mastered differently than online newspapers (Fortunati et al., 2015). Zerba's (2011) participants noted material disadvantages of print newspapers, including the effort of reading ('flipping pages, holding, folding, and carrying') (p. 602) and recycling. ...
... 602) and recycling. Benefits of online news seemed to have less to do with tactile dimensions and more with the technological affordances of digital media, allowing for instantaneity, up-to-dateness, and interaction (Fortunati et al., 2015;Zerba, 2011). Ytre-Arne (2011) discovered through focus groups that readers of women's magazines associated the glossy print version with feelings of relaxation and comfort, whereas computers were associated with work and clicking was found 'annoying and tiresome ' (p. ...
... Whereas research has looked into motivations for news use (most notably through uses and gratifications research) and news avoidance (e.g. Toff and Nielsen, 2018;Zerba, 2011), the domain in between, where people -apparently rather meticulously -measure and negotiate their exposure to and engagement with news, has received less attention (for an exception, see Couldry and Markham, 2008). ...
This article seeks to capture material and sensory dimensions of everyday news use that usually remain unexplored. To that end, we developed a two-sided-ethnography, filming people while they use news, allowing both researchers and participants to look in and reflect on their news use. Tapping into news users’ embodied, tacit knowledge, we found that the materiality of devices and platforms and the ways users physically handle and navigate them impact how they engage with news, in ways they themselves had not realized. We also deepened our understanding of previously found news user practices, and identified the distinct practice scrolling, which is characterized by an embodied urge to keep up the movement of the hand, even when the user finds content appealing. Finally, we show how people actively ‘make’ place and time through their news practices, using coping strategies that mediate between the comfortability of ritual news use and the disruptiveness of news content. We conclude by discussing the theoretical, methodological, and epistemological implications of our research, which include a call for a more in-situ, real-time, and non-news-centric approach to studying everyday news use.
... Boczkowski and Mitchelstein 2013) and surveys to map self-declared usage rates (e.g. Mitchell, Holcomb, and Page 2013;Newman, Levy, and Nielsen 2015;Yuan 2011). Such studies address questions about which news outlets are most frequently used or on what stories users spend the most time. ...
... This paper therefore combines the study of cross-media news use with an analysis of the perceived importance of news media, using a media repertoire approach (Hasebrink and Popp 2006). Previous studies tend to approach repertoires in a somewhat delimited manner, distinguishing based on users' media device preferences (Hasebrink and Domeyer 2012), ideologies (Edgerly 2015), topics (Yuan 2011), or genres, brands or frequencies of use (Trilling and Schoenbach 2013). While all productive entry points, this paper instead employs a broader notion of value to encapsulate a wide range of potential factors. ...
... Media choice studies finding their origins in the uses and gratifications approach (see Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch 1973) have tried to map the successfulness of different media amidst the heavy struggle for audience attention, by asking users to estimate the frequency or time investment of their news media use in absolute numbers (Yuan 2011). However, Prior (2009 demonstrated that measuring news media use via such surveys is problematic, because users tend to overestimate their own use up to eight times as high as their actual use. ...
The current news media landscape is characterized by an abundance of digital outlets and increased opportunities for users to navigate news themselves. Yet, it is still unclear how people negotiate this fluctuating environment to decide which news media to select or ignore, how they assemble distinctive cross-media repertoires, and what makes these compositions meaningful. This article analyzes the value of different platforms, genres, and practices in everyday life by mapping patterns of cross-media news use. Combining Q methodology with think-aloud protocols and day-in-the-life-interviews, five distinct news media repertoires are identified: (1) regionally oriented, (2) background oriented, (3) digital, (4) laid-back, and (5) nationally oriented news use. Our findings indicate that users do not always use what they prefer, nor do they prefer what they use. Moreover, the boundaries they draw between news and other information are clearly shifting. Finally, our results show that in a world with a wide range of possibilities to consume news for free, paying for news can be considered an act of civic engagement. We argue that perceived news use and users’ appreciation of news should be studied in relation to each other to gain a fuller understanding of what news consumption entails in this rapidly changing media landscape.
... Age is another community characteristic relevant to the number of newspapers. Research has consistently found a positive association between age and newspaper readership (Burgoon and Burgoon 1980;Loges and Ball-Rokeach 1993;Malthouse and Calder 2006), and the trend remains as the older population is more likely to read and prefer print newspapers to digital than younger generations (Forman-Katz and Matsa 2022; Wadbring and Bergström 2017;Zerba 2011). Furthermore, although the older population is adopting more digital/online technologies, they are less digitally proficient (Hargittai and Dobransky 2017;Hunsaker and Hargittai 2018;Quan-Haase et al. 2018). ...
... While previous studies report univariate descriptive statistics comparing news deserts -359 counties out of 3,248 US counties-with non-deserts, the current study analyzes newspaper counts with a multivariate model. Moreover, our results align better with the general notion that older population is more likely to read and support newspapers than younger generations (Forman-Katz and Matsa 2022;Wadbring and Bergström 2017;Zerba 2011). Our results contribute by finding statistically significant evidence of potential "journalism divides," which refer to "the patterns in the availability of robust journalism that follow the geographic and demographic patterns that have characterized the digital divide" (Napoli et al. 2018, 4). ...
... Choosing a medium begins with the social and psychological origins of one' s needs. As Zerba (2011) pointed out, beliefs, expectations, values, requirements, daily routines, and sociocultural factors can affect a person's choice of news medium. Studies in the past (e.g., Marchi, 2012) have found that most young adults under 30 do not subscribe to newspapers, television, or radio channels. ...
... This might be because most newspapers in Iran are affiliated to political groups, and it is difficult to find newspapers that reflect independent and critical journalism. They also thought that the yellow press has low-quality content, a finding that was also noted by Zerba (2011) and Casero-Ripollés (2012). These findings are not aligned with studies such as Ofcom (2019) and Jarvis et al. (2009), which stated that journals and newspapers have better quality, accuracy, credibility, and neutrality in comparison to some other news platforms. ...
This study aimed to understand young adults' attitudes concerning news and news resources they consumed, and how they encounter the fake news phenomenon. A qualitative approach was used with semi-structured interviews with 41 young adults (aged 20-30) in Tehran, Iran. Findings revealed that about half of the participants favored social media, and a smaller group used traditional media and only a few maintained that traditional and modern media should be used together. News quality was considered to be lower on social media than in traditional news sources. Furthermore, young adults usually followed the news related to the issues which had impact on their daily life, and they typically tended to share news. To detect fake news, they checked several media to compare the information; and profiteering and attracting audiences' attention were the most important reasons for the existence of fake news. This is the first qualitative study for understanding news consumption behavior of young adults in a politicized society.
... The orthodox view is that news consumption is critical to maintaining an informed citizenry who can engage thoughtfully and actively in democratic processes (Kim and Webster 2012;Shehata 2016). As a result, much news avoidance research is alarmed about the apparent rise in rates of news avoidance (Andersen 2020, 1;Ksiazek, Malthouse, and Webster 2010, 551) and its possible impacts on civic engagement (Ksiazek, Malthouse, and Webster 2010), particularly among young people (Edgerly 2017;Shehata 2016;Zerba 2011). News avoidance is generally viewed as a problem to be solved, perhaps by more positive news stories (Skovsgaard and Andersen 2020), "slow media" initiatives (Andersen 2020), or making traditional formats more appealing to young people (Zerba 2011). ...
... As a result, much news avoidance research is alarmed about the apparent rise in rates of news avoidance (Andersen 2020, 1;Ksiazek, Malthouse, and Webster 2010, 551) and its possible impacts on civic engagement (Ksiazek, Malthouse, and Webster 2010), particularly among young people (Edgerly 2017;Shehata 2016;Zerba 2011). News avoidance is generally viewed as a problem to be solved, perhaps by more positive news stories (Skovsgaard and Andersen 2020), "slow media" initiatives (Andersen 2020), or making traditional formats more appealing to young people (Zerba 2011). ...
As Australia imposed some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 lockdowns, governments and mental health organisations released advice for preserving mental wellbeing throughout the pandemic. One common suggestion was to avoid excessive news consumption. This article reports findings from a study that explored why, how, and with what outcomes people engaged in news avoidance practices. We conducted interviews with 20 participants from the Australian state of Victoria which experienced the country’s most sustained lockdown measures. Our data shows that people restricted their news consumption for a range of wellbeing-related reasons. Avoidance practices were shaped by household contexts and involved strategies for remaining informed to a limited degree. These findings contribute to an emerging evidence base that points to the benefits of partial news avoidance. They also reiterate the value of public health advice that suggests limiting news during a crisis. We go on to argue that the prevalence of news avoidance practices during long-term crises raises significant practical implications for news organisations.
... Die Notwendigkeit der Selektion ist heute größer denn je zuvor (Bennett & Iyengar 2008;Blekesaune et al. 2012) und so verwundert es nicht, dass sich die Erforschung der Selektion von Medienangeboten und -inhalten zu einem wichtigen Teilbereich der Rezeptionsforschung entwickelt hat. Aus Sicht der rezeptionsorientierten Selektionsforschung umfasst der Begriff Selektion dabei stets zwei Aspekte: Die bewusste oder unbewusste Auswahl bestimmter Medieninhalte (Selective Exposure) (Bennett & Iyengar 2008;Donsbach 1991) ebenso wie die bewusste oder unbewusste Vermeidung medialer Inhalte (Selective Avoidance), die jedoch deutlich weniger häufig im Fokus der Forschung steht (Elvestad, Blekesaune & Aalberg 2014;Van den Bulck 2006;Zerba 2011). ...
... Die kognitive Komponente der themenbezogenen Faktoren bezieht sich auf das Involvement der Rezipienten mit einem Thema. In der Rezeptionsforschung wird unter Involvement im Allgemeinen das Engagement oder die Ich-Beteiligung der Rezipienten verstanden, mit der sie Informationen aufnehmen und verarbeiten (Bilandzic, Matthes & Schramm 2015: 78;Donnerstag 1996 (Kuhlmann et al. 2014;Zerba 2011). Befunde aus der Werbeforschung haben indes gezeigt, dass fehlende Abwechslung, auch bekannt als wear-out-Effekt (Geiß 2015: 85f.), zu Langeweile führen kann, die wiederum ablehnende Reaktionen zur Folge haben kann (Geiß 2015;Hughes 1992). ...
Eine in Bezug auf die Vermeidung von Informationen bislang kaum untersuchte Erklärungsperspektive ist die Entwicklung von Themenverdrossenheit, die eine Reaktion der Rezipienten auf eine über einen langen Zeitraum anhaltende Berichterstattung über ein Thema beschreibt. Themenverdrossenheit wird als kognitiver und emotionaler Widerstand von Rezipienten gegenüber einem Thema verstanden, so dass sie von diesem „nichts mehr sehen und hören wollen“. Bislang wurden das Konzept und seine möglichen Dimensionen jedoch wenig theoretisch fundiert und empirisch überprüft. Diese Studie leitet fünf Dimensionen von Themenverdrossenheit theoretisch her und entwickelt eine Skala zu ihrer Messung, die anhand einer repräsentativen Befragung zum Thema Flüchtlinge in Deutschland (n=500) überprüft wird. Das Messmodell zeigt, dass Themenverdrossenheit aus den Faktoren ablehnende Haltung gegenüber dem Thema, Involvement mit dem Thema, wahrgenommene Informationsüberlastung, wahrgenommene Qualität der Berichterstattung und Wahrnehmung feindseliger und manipulativer Berichterstattung besteht. Zur Konstruktvalidierung der entwickelten Skala werden Zusammenhänge mit der Vermeidung von Informationen durch die Rezipienten analysiert.
... According to Poindexter (2012), news organizations have a responsibility to become more knowledgeable about millennial generation research. In doing so, they can better create news products and innovations that resonate with the experiences, interests, and values of young adults (Zerba, 2011). ...
... Similarly, the results from this study cannot be generalized to all young adults. It may also be that younger adult millennials differ from their older millennial counterparts in news media perceptions (Zerba, 2011). Future research taking a more quantitative approach can shed light on the proportion of people who adopt the strategies identified in this study, as well as formally examine the factors that predict strategy usage. ...
This study takes a closer look at the role the news media plays in how young adults inform themselves in the high-choice media age. In-depth interview data with 21 young adults from varying socio-economic backgrounds was used to identify the strategies they had for locating current events information. During the interviews, the young adult participants responded to six hypothetical “vignettes” by articulating the steps they would take to find information about current events. Findings revealed two strategy patterns that interviewees either voiced—one set of strategies directly involved use of the news media, and another set avoided the news media in favor of functional information alternatives. Common among all the interviewees, however, was the need for information skepticism when navigating the contemporary media environment. Implications for social inequality and news media literacy are discussed.
... Wenn es um die Erklärung der Nichtnutzung geht, dann findet man gegenwärtig nur Studien, die sich damit befassen, warum Rezipienten ganze Mediengattungen (z. B. Zerba, 2011;Sicking, 1998;Lipschultz, 1987), einzelne Medienangebote (z. B. Jamal & Melkote, 2008), Nachrichten allgemein (z. ...
... Variiert wird lediglich der "Gegenstand" der Vermeidung, wie z. B. Fernsehen (Sicking, 1998), Zeitungen (Zerba, 2011), Nachrichten-Überblicke vs. Special Interest-Nachrichten (Trilling & Schoenbach, 2013) oder Nachrichten zum Klimawandel (Yang & Kahlor, 2013). Wonneberger, Schönbach und van Meurs (2013) können allerdings zeigen, dass Vermeidung nicht nur dichotom ist. ...
Der Beitrag untersucht das Phänomen der Themenverdrossenheit. Vermutet wird, dass manche Rezipienten auf Themen, über die lange und intensiv in den Nachrichten berichtet wird, ab einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt mit Widerstand reagieren und die Berichterstattung über diese Themen ggf. sogar aktiv vermeiden. Die Aufarbeitung des Forschungsstands legt nahe, dass Themenverdrossenheit in der Kommunikationswissenschaft bisher nicht untersucht wurde. Eine erste empirische Exploration des Forschungsfeldes mit qualitativen (N=13 Leitfadeninterviews) und quantitativen Elementen (Befragung mit Quotenstichprobe, N=366) am Beispiel Fernsehen ergab drei Hauptergebnisse: Erstens scheint Themenverdrossenheit ein weit verbreitetes Phänomen in unserer Gesellschaft zu sein, da ein Großteil der Befragten Themen nennen kann, von denen sie „nichts mehr hören und sehen“ wollten. Zweitens zeigen sie bei Kontakten mit diesen Themen differenzierte Vermeidungsreaktionen, die sowohl die Rezeption mit verringerter Aufmerksamkeit als auch aktive Vermeidung umfassen. Drittens ist Themenverdrossenheit sowohl mit einer bestimmten Beurteilung des entsprechenden Themas (z. B. negativ-komplex) als auch der Berichterstattung (z. B. subjektiv erlebte Manipulation) verknüpft.
... Research into magazine coverage of the 2004 presidential election (Mueller & Reichert, 2009) yielded evidence of a cynical tone in news targeted toward young adults, leading the researchers to speculate that such a tone pushes readers into further disengagement. In examining reasons why young adults were turning away from newspapers, Zerba (2011) found that young adults in the study considered it difficult to find time to fit traditional newspapers into their daily routines, and they expressed a feeling that the stories in newspapers had little connection to their daily lives. Respondents in her study indicated that shorter, tothe-point stories, with more diversity and a mix of entertainment and hard news, would make newspapers more appealing. ...
... One of the key differences in members of the millennial generation is their insistence on being both entertained and informed. With the increased volume and variety of information, the attention span of individuals is waning; however, they still have an interest in news content (see Lewis, 2008;Zerba, 2011). As noted by Hmielowski et al. (2011), it appears that the satirical presentation of news parodies may also be a large draw for this population. ...
This study examines what young adults consider to be news, comparing that with traditional news values as espoused by journalists and taught in journalism schools. Employing an online survey, we compared those views with the participants' assessment of whether 42 headlines are “news.” Findings indicated that traditional values of prominence, impact, and controversy were important to participants but that timeliness and proximity were less so. Opinion also emerged as a value.
... accesibilidad: entendida como el aumento de la facilidad y la rapidez a la hora de poner las no8cias a disposición de la audiencia (Qayyum, et al., 2010; Rodríguez-Mar=nez; Codina; Pedraza-Jiménez, 2010); -personalización, concebida en un doble sen8do: poder crear un diario a la carta que responda a las preferencias de cada lector (Thurman, 2011) y ofrecer al público el control sobre su experiencia informa8va, permi8éndole decidir qué no8cias recibe, cómo y cuándo (Huang, 2009); -relevancia: orienta las preferencias de la audiencia hacia aquellas no8cias relacionadas con su vida co8diana (Túñez, 2009), con el foco puesto en lo local (Zerba, 2011), vinculadas al relato de experiencias personales (Costera-Meijer, 2007) y con elevadas dosis de u8lidad prác8ca (Bernal-Triviño, 2009); -par8cipación: es indicada por algunos autores como un criterio de evaluación clave (Raeymaeckers, 2004). ...
... Esta clase de informaciones consigue una media de 7,45. Este resultado concuerda con hallazgos anteriores que indican que la cobertura periodís8ca orientada hacia los temas cercanos al contexto vital de la audiencia y su tratamiento a par8r de experiencias personales son los contenidos más valorados por el público joven (Zerba, 2011;Túñez, 2009;Costera-Meijer, 2007). ...
... accesibilidad: entendida como el aumento de la facilidad y la rapidez a la hora de poner las noticias a disposición de la audiencia (Qayyum, et al., 2010; Rodríguez-Martínez; Codina; Pedraza-Jiménez, 2010); -personalización, concebida en un doble sentido: poder crear un diario a la carta que responda a las preferencias de cada lector (Thurman, 2011) y ofrecer al público el control sobre su experiencia informativa, permitiéndole decidir qué noticias recibe, cómo y cuándo (Huang, 2009); -relevancia: orienta las preferencias de la audiencia hacia aquellas noticias relacionadas con su vida cotidiana (Túñez, 2009), con el foco puesto en lo local (Zerba, 2011), vinculadas al relato de experiencias personales (Costera-Meijer, 2007) y con elevadas dosis de utilidad práctica (Bernal-Triviño, 2009); -participación: es indicada por algunos autores como un criterio de evaluación clave (Raeymaeckers, 2004). ...
... Esta clase de informaciones consigue una media de 7,45. Este resultado concuerda con hallazgos anteriores que indican que la cobertura periodística orientada hacia los temas cercanos al contexto vital de la audiencia y su tratamiento a partir de experiencias personales son los contenidos más valorados por el público joven (Zerba, 2011;Túñez, 2009;Costera-Meijer, 2007). ...
El entorno digital ofrece nuevos atributos a la prensa para elaborar sus contenidos. Su empleo estrategico abre nuevas vias para renovar sus modelos de negocio en un contexto de reconversion del periodismo. Se evaluan las potencialidades de estas herramientas desde la optica del publico joven para ofrecer pautas de actuacion a las empresas periodisticas. La metodologia se basa en una encuesta cuantitativa a personas de entre 16 y 30 anos (N = 549). Los resultados revelan que la actualizacion, la multimedialidad, la personalizacion y los contenidos cotidianos y cercanos son las propiedades mas valoradas. El empleo de estos recursos se situa como uno de los pilares a partir de los cuales edificar nuevos modelos de negocio adaptados al ambito digital.
... Para estos jóvenes, el consumo de información se realiza mayormente a través de teléfonos inteligentes, dispositivos que fusionan los medios antiguos y los nuevos en un solo aparato (Antunovic, 2018;Cardoso, 2013). Esto les permite acceder a la información mientras están en movimiento (Zerba, 2011) y en una variedad de contextos (Peters, 2012), especialmente en las redes sociales (Canavilhas, 2023), que son uno de los espacios preferidos para este grupo de edad (Yanardağoğlu, 2021;Espinar-Ruiz et al., 2020;Tandoc Jr., 2014). ...
... A growing number of individuals, however, limit their overall news consumption or avoid the news (or certain news topics) altogether (Andersen et al., 2024;Skovsgaard & Andersen, 2020). Those consciously opting out of the news may do so, among other reasons, on account of the negative tone of news coverage and its effects on their mood, or on account of their distrust in the news media (Skovsgaard & Andersen, 2020;Zerba, 2011). Unintentional news avoidance, on the other hand, stems from changes in the media environment, such as the plethora of entertainment options, and varying content preferences (Prior, 2007;Skovsgaard & Andersen, 2020). ...
Local political news is losing consumers over the past decade at a faster rate than other political media, while online news consumption is growing. Previous research shows that local news can slow polarization, encourage political participation, and reduce government and business corruption, but not whether changes over time can affect political attitudes. Is this consequential shift in the media environment associated with changes in Americans’ perceptions of electoral integrity and their system of government? We use a three-wave panel survey from 2012 to 2014 to assess the relationship between changes in self-reported news diets and opinions about American elections and democracy. Switching out of local newspapers is associated with a significant decrease in faith in elections but does not appear to influence support for the broader U.S. system of government. We conclude by discussing the implications of declining local and legacy media news use for Americans’ attitudes toward U.S. elections and democracy in the aftermath of the 2020 elections.
... Para estos jóvenes, el consumo de información se realiza mayormente a través de teléfonos inteligentes, dispositivos que fusionan los medios antiguos y los nuevos en un solo aparato (Antunovic, 2018;Cardoso, 2013). Esto les permite acceder a la información mientras están en movimiento (Zerba, 2011) y en una variedad de contextos (Peters, 2012), especialmente en las redes sociales (Canavilhas, 2023), que son uno de los espacios preferidos para este grupo de edad (Yanardağoğlu, 2021;Espinar-Ruiz et al., 2020;Tandoc Jr., 2014). ...
Comprender la percepción que tienen los estudiantes de periodismo sobre su consumo de noticias es fundamental para definir la estrategia de los medios de comunicación y los nuevos perfiles profesionales. Así, el propósito de esta investigación es analizar la relación de los estudiantes portugueses de periodismo con las noticias. Para alcanzar este objetivo, se llevó a cabo una encuesta por cuestionario en línea. La base de datos analizada comprende 449 respuestas de estudiantes de todas las regiones del país. Estos datos constituyen la muestra nacional más grande y diversa hasta la fecha para analizar este tema de investigación en Portugal. Los resultados revelan que la mayoría de los encuestados no lee periódicos ni revistas impresos, prefiriendo informarse mediante páginas web de medios tradicionales, nativos digitales y redes sociales. Aunque la frecuencia de lectura sea muy baja, se observa un aumento a medida que los estudiantes avanzan en los años de su curso de periodismo. Para estos jóvenes, el consumo de información noticiosa se basa principalmente en plataformas digitales, siendo la televisión el último medio tradicional que aún tiene un impacto significativo en su dieta mediática.
... For these young people, information consumption is mostly done through smartphones, devices that merge old and new media in one device (Antunovic, 2018;Cardoso, 2013). This allows them to access information while on the move (Zerba, 2011) and in a variety of contexts (Peters, 2012), especially on social media (Canavilhas, 2023), which are one of the preferred spaces for this age group (Yanardağoğlu, 2021;Espinar-Ruiz et al., 2020;Tandoc Jr., 2014). ...
Understanding journalism students' perceptions of their news consumption is fundamental for defining media strategy and new professional profiles. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between Portuguese journalism students and news. To achieve this goal, an online survey was conducted. The analyzed database comprises 449 responses from students representing all regions of the country. This dataset constitutes the largest and most diverse national sample to date for analyzing this research topic in Portugal. The findings indicate that the majority of respondents do not read printed newspapers and magazines, instead preferring to obtain information via traditional media websites, digital platforms, and social media. While the frequency of reading starts off relatively low, there is an observed increase as students advance through their journalism courses. For these young people, the consumption of news is primarily centered on digital platforms, with television being the last traditional medium to have a significant impact.
... They find it difficult to draw conclusions based on the distinct perspectives presented in different news sources. The news is perceived as too diffuse (Cotter and Thorson, 2022;Zerba, 2011). ...
This article offers an overview of 94 scientific studies (published between 2006 and 2022) to examine how young people (ages 10–36) define, consume, and evaluate news. Research on news and youth has exploded over the past decades, but what can we conclude from it, and how should journalism scholars move forward? The systematic literature review reveals that while young people remain interested in news, how they consume it has changed drastically. Social media platforms and algorithms now play a pivotal role in young people’s news consumption. Moreover, due to the overwhelming nature of today’s high-choice digital media landscape, youth engage both actively and passively with news, while sometimes exhibiting avoidance tendencies. The review also demonstrates how the impact of digitalization has reshaped young people’s ability to critically evaluate the credibility of news, often relying on social networks and technology platforms. The review concludes with a research agenda.
... Reasons behind intentional news avoidance are equally troubling. Individuals may consciously decide to "tune out" of news due to factors such as pessimistic news coverage, which can adversely effect their mood (Boukes & Vliegenthart, 2017), a lack of trust in media (Zerba, 2011), or a sense of information overload, fatigue from receiving, selecting, processing, and evaluating (relevant) information (Crook et al. 2016). ...
The current political information environment (PIE) is in flux undergoing a series of well documented changes. These changes may affect the conditions for a healthy democracy being oftentimes associated with a growing number of uninformed, selectively informed, or even misinformed citizens. While each of these specific changes has received a lot of individual attention, less is known about the perceptions held by political elites towards the threats and opportunities associated with the PIE. This qualitative study examines the main concerns, challenges, and threats that representatives of political elites perceive with regards to the current political information environment. The analyses are based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with politicians in Poland. The investigation revealed some shared perceptions among politicians across ideological orientations on challenges related to the current developments in the media, as well as differences in perceptions on their causes and potential solutions.
... In addition, the fact that no substantial differences in the influence of print news by age group are identified is an interesting finding that contradicts expectations based on previous literature [79]. Traditionally, it has been assumed that young people reading fewer print media would be less influenced by print news compared to other age groups [80,81]. One possible reason is related to the fact that, although young people access less news through print newspapers, they have access to the same news through other media. ...
Traffic accidents represent a major problem worldwide. Public and private entities launch communication campaigns in order to educate the population about this problem. The aim of this study is to analyze the evolution of the presence of road safety in the Spanish media and its influence on the reduction of road accidents. A content analysis of six major Spanish newspapers between 2000 and 2008 (an important period in the reduction of the accident rate in Spain) was carried out in which the presence of news related to traffic accidents and the intensity of them were quantified using a set of criteria designed for this study. Furthermore, the correlation between the accident rates and the presence and intensity of news in the same time frame was measured. There has been an evident increase in the news related to traffic accidents during the analyzed period, both in terms of the presence of such news in general and in terms of intensity. The correlation analysis also shows a strong relationship between the increase in news presence and intensity and a sharp fall in accident rates in Spain. Although correlation analysis is not enough to establish a causal relationship between the variables studied here, the findings suggest that informative campaigns had a positive effect on encouraging pro-social behavior, were successful in disseminating related information, and, therefore, contributed significantly to lowering accident rates, although that was not the only reason.
... Despite the increasing availability of news, some people may avoid political news. This could be due to various reasons, including a feeling of being overloaded with information, pessimistic news coverage having a negative effect on people's mood (Boukes and Vliegenthart, 2017), or a lack of media trust (Zerba, 2011). Although news avoidance has some positive side effects, such as improved perceived well-being (de Bruin et al., 2021), it can leave people uninformed about important public issues. ...
In recent research, the concept of “media diets” has received increased attention. However, the concept remains vague and not fully developed, and rarely, if at all, do researchers ask citizens about their perceptions of their own and others’ media diets. With the ongoing transformation of the media landscape, there has never been a more pertinent time to explore these perceptions, which this research intends to do. The main goal of this paper then is to identify recommendations addressing recently voiced concerns about news consumption patterns in contemporary society to relevant stakeholders. Empirically, the study is based on a series of focus group interviews with younger (18–25 years old) and older (over 55) adults in five European countries (Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the UK). Our results show important cohort differences as well as cross-country similarities, which are pertinent insights for the formulation of stakeholder recommendations.
... Po pierwsze, obniżanie się jakości informacji politycznej prowadzić może do świadomego unikania tego typu przekazów przez obywateli. Wśród przyczyn tego zjawiska wskazuje się także na poczucie przeciążenia informacjami, zniechęceniem odbiorców wobec treści, które prezentują głównie negatywny obraz rzeczywistości i wywołują poczucie przygnębienia i bezsilności u odbiorców (Boukes, Vliegenthart 2017), a także brak zaufania do mediów (Zerba 2011). Nawet jeśli uznamy, że unikanie informacji jest strategią ochrony przed negatywnymi bodźcami (de Bruin i in. ...
Citizens in Political Information Environment: Areas of Study and Methodological The aim of this paper is to offer a theoretical background for studies on political communication that focus on the role of the audience in the flow of political messages. We start with normative models of democracy and their demands upon citizens and the concept of political information environment. By employing these two concepts, we are able to focus on two dimensions of citizens’ roles in political communication, that is expectations towards media users who are perceived here as citizens, as well as citizens’ expectations towards news media disseminating political information. A combination of the aforementioned concepts provides us with a theoretical background for studies on actual news media consumption and related phenomena, such as news avoidance and selective media exposure.
... Studies have found a positive association between age and reading newspapers (Burgoon and Burgoon 1980;Loges and Ball-Rokeach 1993;Malthouse and Calder 2006). More recent investigations corroborate that older populations are more likely to read and prefer print newspapers than younger generations (Forman-Katz and Matsa 2022;Wadbring and Bergström 2017;Zerba 2011). In addition to such a disposition, older population tends to have a lower level of digital proficiency despite their increased adoption and use of digital/online technologies (Hargittai and Dobransky 2017;Hunsaker and Hargittai 2018;Quan-Haase et al. 2018). ...
This article builds a model to forecast the number of newspapers that will exist in each US county in 2028, based on what is known about each county in 2023. The methodology is to use information known in 2018 to predict the number of newspapers in 2023. Having estimated the model parameters, we apply it to 2023 data. The model is based on market demographic characteristics and allows for different effects (slopes) for large, medium and small markets (population segments). While the main contribution is forecasting, we interpret the parameter estimates for validation. We find that the best predictor of the number of newspapers in five years is the current number of newspapers. Population size also has a positive association with newspapers. Average age and median income have positive slopes, but not in all population segments. The proportions of Blacks, and separately Hispanics, in a county have negative associations with the number of newspapers, but not in all population segments. The report provides maps showing which counties that are currently news deserts could be revived, which counties that currently have one newspaper are more at risk of losing it, and which counties with two or more newspapers are at risk. We also study the model residuals showing which counties are under-or over-performing relative to the market conditions.
... Studies have found a positive association between age and reading newspapers (Burgoon and Burgoon 1980;Loges and Ball-Rokeach 1993;Malthouse and Calder 2006). More recent investigations corroborate that older populations are more likely to read and prefer print newspapers than younger generations (Forman-Katz and Matsa 2022;Wadbring and Bergström 2017;Zerba 2011). In addition to such a disposition, older population tends to have a lower level of digital proficiency despite their increased adoption and use of digital/online technologies (Hargittai and Dobransky 2017;Hunsaker and Hargittai 2018;Quan-Haase et al. 2018). ...
... Interactivity may be defined as the degree to which a third transmission (or message) in a set of communication exchanges is connected to the degree to which the first two exchanges refer to even earlier transmissions. Zerba (2011) discussed that online newspapers have the advantage over print editions because they can provide news instantaneously. This real-time story-updating capability allows for more dynamic storytelling. ...
Keywords Abstract Newspaper, Social Media, South Punjab The primarily goal of this research study is to examine the effect of social media on newspaper reading habits of consumers in South Punjab, Pakistan. This study will discuss how the social media inflicts upon consumers newspaper reading habits. The researchers employed the quantitative research approach to gather the data for this study. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire. A sample size of 200 respondents was selected from various areas of South Punjab of Pakistan. According to the findings, social media has a significant impact on newspaper readers. The brands strongly suggest using social media to attract customers. News networks use social media platforms to disseminate breaking news to their audiences.
... Intentional news avoidance is linked to a conscious decision to "tune out" of news. This behaviour is often connected with various reasons, such as the fact that news is framed in a pessimistic way, thus eliciting negative effects on people's mood (Boukes & Vliegenthart 2017), decreasing trust in the media (Zerba 2011) or the feeling of information overload (i.e. people become tired of receiving, selecting, processing and evaluating (relevant) information that is available at a certain point in time) (Song et al. 2017). ...
This chapter delves into the intricacies of the threats and opportunities of the high-choice media environment in Romania. By means of focus groups with ordinary people and in-depth expert interviews with journalists and politicians conducted in April–May 2021, the authors provide insights mainly related to people’s media diet and some of the negative phenomena associated with the current media landscape: news avoidance, selective exposure and disinformation. Using a thematic analysis, the findings show differences between the youth and the elderly’s media diets: while the former acknowledge that their generation has a highly unbalanced, even toxic media habits mainly coming from social media, the latter prefer TV as the main source of information. The experts appreciate that both social media and TV are sources of political- and public affairs-related information. The main threat associated with the high-choice media environment is, in both the ordinary people and experts’ opinion, disinformation.
... 17 The content consumed via social media reflects the internet's ability to "adapt" to the user's/consumer's needs: the algorithms determine the choice of information that will be shown to each user; information that results from the user's social and geographical environment. 18 For Gen Z, that grew up with the internet and social media right from the start, the choice of the internet as an information source is reinforced by the practical nature and the increased usage of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops) 19 Of course, it is important to note that besides the obvious relation between this generation and technology and its influence on young people's informational and recreational habits, another important factor that partly determines their choices is their documented distrust towards the traditional media. Even though the current research doesn't focus on traditional media 20 , several studies in Greece and abroad have documented young people's growing distrust towards them. ...
Research Goals:
To explore the information sources that Gen Z youths choose and also how they
form their political opinions.
To document behaviours and patterns relevant to Social Media usage, regarding
news consumption and political behaviour.
To analyse Gen Z’s opinions on misinformation and fake news.
To find out what Gen Z thinks and does regarding current socio-political matters.
The research was conducted by aboutpeople (data collection) on behalf of Εteron - Institute for Research and Social Change, between 10-18 December 2021. The data was collected using structured online questionnaires that were answered by a sample of 403 people
The research took place online using panels and advertising in social media.
Weighting adjustments were made, relevant to the participants’ gender. Since the research focuses on Gen Z, the age range of the participants was 16-25 years old. Even though there isn’t a universal consensus on the date range, the general trend is to say that it spans between 1995/6 and 2010.1
... At the cognitive level, consistency theories pos tulate that individuals avoid or ignore in formation that is inconsistent with their beliefs or attitudes (Donsbach, 1991). For political media content, predictors of nonexposure or avoidance include disliking political information in general (Bode, Vraga, & TrollerRenfree, 2017;Trill ing & Schoenbach, 2013) and a negative perception of the news media coverage (Zerba, 2011). At the emotional level, neg ative emotions, such as threat and anxiety (Goodall & Reed, 2013), lead to the avoid ance of health information. ...
A significant amount of political communication research is grounded in the dynamics of the media’s and the public’s attention to public issues, assuming that the news media draw the public’s attention to issues, thereby fostering an informed and participating citizenry. However, there is evidence from several countries that this mechanism is disrupted for issues with high shares of news coverage during a period. Against this background, this article scrutinizes the idea that recipients become fatigued from these issues in the news. Having transferred findings on overexposure from other media stimuli to the news environment, issue fatigue is defined as a negative cognitive and affective state consisting of decreasing issue-specific information processing involvement, perceived information overload, and increasing boredom, annoyance, and anger toward an issue. Issue fatigue can lead to the avoidance of information about the issue, thus serving as a new explanatory approach to avoidance of media information at an issue level. Further consequences, causes, and the development of issue fatigue are discussed.
... It may be necessary to have a newsstand to accommodate these students, but such buying should be discouraged as much as possible because it makes for additional work and means a half-hearted reader. A good method of discouraging this sale is to charge a considerably higher rate for individual copies (Zerba, 2011). ...
... Conception (thinking) would entail the more cognitive and symbolic dimensions such as understanding, sense-making, interpretation, evaluation and judgment of news content. Sensation has been particularly overlooked in studies of news use, even though material and sensory dimensions have been shown to impact people's experience of news and other types of media (Ytre-Arne 2011 ;Zerba 2011;Fortunati, Taipale, and Farinosi 2015). Journalism scholars have consequently barely tapped into news users' embodied ways of knowing, which refers to knowledge people "know" in and with their body but may not be able to communicate verbally (Merleau-Ponty 1962;Pink and Leder Mackley 2013;Moores 2015). ...
This article aims to provide a resource for journalism researchers looking to use a qualitative approach to study news use. It seeks to go beyond justifying qualitative methods vis-à-vis quantitative methods and to be more reflective and critical regarding the limitations and possibilities of the qualitative interview. Making the case for taking experience as point of departure for studying news use, the article explicates this notion by drawing from different theoretical conceptions of experience. Based on three recent user studies, the article critically reflects upon three interview-based methods that center around users’ experience of news use—the think-aloud protocol, watching and discussing news, and the two-sided video-ethnography—and discusses their theoretical, methodological and epistemological implications. A common thread emerging from the different user studies is that people require support to be able to access and communicate their experiences of news use. The methods discussed proved successful at doing so, respectively by having informants comment on what they saw right in front of them (see), by giving them the tools and the vocabulary to reflect on a prior experience (think), and by bringing them in touch with their sensations of using news (feel).
... In contrast, however, studies based on uses-and-gratifications frameworks indicate that such brief, incidentbased news updates may at the same time increase news avoidance. Several qualitative studies yielded news recipients often feel overwhelmed by the constant flow of fragmented news (Associated Press, 2008;Zerba, 2011). Similarly, experiments examining implications of more context-oriented, interpretive news styles found positive effects on users' news interests, such as perceived interestingness and informativeness of news reports, satisfaction of informational needs, and future news use likelihood (e.g., Pingree, Brossard, & McLeod, 2014;Yaros, 2006;Zerba, 2013). ...
This study examined effects of four common news attributes—personalization, fragmentation, authority–disorder bias, and dramatization (PFAD)—on news exposure and the moderating impacts of hedonic, epistemic, and civic news use motivations. In a lab experiment, participants browsed online news while selective exposure was unobtrusively logged. Findings yielded longer exposure to personalized and dramatized articles and news with low authority–disorder bias. Fragmentation had no significant impact. However, selective exposure to fragmented news was influenced by participants’ political understanding (epistemic motivation), exposure to personalization by news enjoyment (hedonic motivation), and exposure to authority–disorder bias by civic duty to keep informed (civic motivation). Results suggest that news styles may need to become more diversified to better address the informational needs of today’s fragmented audiences.
... They observed that majority of the students prefer libraries as a place to read and their main aim was to obtain information on public affairs, politics/governments. Furthermore, when the respondents were asked to indicate the barriers they mentioned that the newspaper section was often overcrowded. Zerba [8] investigated on the young adults' reasons behind avoidances of daily print newspapers and their ideas for change where the researcher conducted the study with young adults (ages 18-29) to understand why they don't read daily print newspapers. ...
... Bei zufälliger Nutzung nur vereinzelter Nachrichtenfragmente allerdings, denen es gelungen ist, die Aufmerksamkeitsschwelle kurzfristig zu überschreiten, könnte diese Wahrscheinlichkeit gravierend sinken. Anzeichen hierfür ist die in Befragungen zunehmend geäußerte Überforderung der Nutzer, Nachrichten sinnvoll einzuordnen (Purcell et al. 2010, Zerba 2011. In der bereits erwähnten qualitativen Studie der Associated Press (2008) waren es zwar insbesondere fragmentierte und dramatisierte Nachrichtenaufbereitungen, die das Interesse der Nutzer auf sich zogen; gerade diese Darstellungen waren es aber auch, die anschließend zu ‚News Fatigue' führten -zu einer abnehmenden Motivation also, dem Nachrichtengeschehen weiterhin Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken: "Participants […] appeared debilitated by information overload and unsatisfying news experiences. ...
Viele Öffentlichkeitstheorien basieren auf der Grundannahme, dass die Funktionsfähigkeit von Demokratien wesentlich davon abhängt, inwiefern Bürger die Möglichkeit und das Interesse besitzen, an gesellschaftspolitischen Entwicklungen teilzuhaben (Ferree/Gamson/Gerhards/Rucht 2002, Strömbäck 2005).
... This presents a dilemma-while younger people are more likely to pay for online news, they tend to have lower interest in news compared with other age groups (Mindich 2005;Prior 2007), which may help to explain why the newspaper industry has found it difficult to attain digital subscribers in large numbers. In recent years, media scholars are paying increasing attention to young adults' news consumption behavior (Kaufhold 2010;Mindich 2005;Zerba 2011). Future research on potential intervention measures to promote news interest among young adults may explore the progression from interest, use, to paying intent, as proposed by this study. ...
While media scholars tend to take “media use” as an indicator of popularity or diffusion, media use alone does not fully capture the complexity of online news consumption. For instance, given free online news offerings in most cases, consumers do not always use what they prefer, and most are not willing to pay for what they use. This study identifies from the literature three distinct factors—preference, use, and paying intent—as well as two key demographic variables—age and gender—each helping to explain a specific facet of online news consumption. While previous research has uncovered a number of relationships among these factors, a holistic model that weaves different empirical findings together is lacking. To address the interplay among the key factors, this study presents two theoretical models via structural equation modeling. The goal is to clarify the interrelationship among preference, use, and paying intent for online news, which helps to explain why most newspapers have difficulties monetizing online usage. Applying new conceptual and methodological approaches, this study synthesizes previous studies and advances research on the economics of online news consumption.
... Empirical research suggests that the lackluster interest in following the news is especially notable among young people, and the discussion on plausible solutions thus focuses on this particular demographic group (Kaufhold 2010;Mindich 2005;Zerba 2011). To retain young readers, many news organizations take a technology-driven approach-focusing on the Web as the number one priority for attracting young readers (Graybeal 2011) and devoting a substantial portion of their dwindling resources to emerging platforms such as e-readers, smartphones, tablets (Chyi and Chadha 2012), and social media (Greer and Yan 2010;Ju, Jeong, and Chyi forthcoming). ...
In the history of news production, the gap between editors' news judgment and audience interest has been widely noticeable. In scholarly research, while news consumption remains a central focus, the value of news content as a product has rarely been examined from the audience's perspective. News is almost always presumed by scholars and practitioners to be of value, which, however, is not necessarily the case in today's media environment. The recent decline in news consumption from the traditional media is often attributed to demographic factors, particularly age. However, such age-oriented narratives shift the responsibility away from news providers to users. From the media economics standpoint, when news organizations fail to address users' needs and wants, the product delivers limited utility and demand would dwindle as a result. This study conceptualizes and empirically examines the “noteworthiness” of news content as perceived by the general public. Results based on a national survey of US internet users show that only about one-third of the content produced by the mainstream news media is perceived as noteworthy. While previous studies identified demographics as significant predictors of news consumption, findings from this study suggest that perceived noteworthiness is a stronger factor influencing news consumption in terms of news enjoyment, newspaper and TV news use, and paying intent for print newspapers. Instead of using technology to pursue a particular demographic group, news organizations should rethink their content strategy and prioritize audience-oriented value creation to serve news consumers at large.
To draw a picture of the evolution of media management research in the context of published scholarly work, this invited piece reviews works related to media management and industry studies published in JMCQ for the past 100 years. Initially, attention was paid to understanding the basics of newspaper as an economic entity. Since then, the status of chain ownership and consolidation, impacts of consolidation on newspaper content, intermedia competition, human resource management, business strategy, adoption/consumption, engagement, and recently, AI in the media industry were the major topics in the media management studies chronologically. Future directions for media management and industry studies were discussed.
Haberin en önemli işlevlerinden biri, vatandaşlara yaşamları, çevreleri, toplumları hakkında mümkün olan en iyi kararları vermeleri için ihtiyaç duydukları bilgileri sağlamaktır. Dolayısıyla haber, bireysel ve toplumsal düzeylerde daha doğru kararlar verilebilmesi için bir gerekliliktir. Ancak özellikle son yıllarda habere gösterilen ilgi zayıflamaya başlamıştır. Haberden kaçınmak dünyada olduğu gibi Türkiye’de de yıllar içinde giderek artan bir eğilim olarak belirmektedir. Özellikle gençlerin habere olan ilgisi oldukça düşüktür. Bu durumun birçok nedeni olmakla birlikte alanyazında en sık tekrar eden nedenler arasında çok fazla habere maruz kalmak, gündemin büyük oranda olumsuz olması, gazeteciliğin güven kaybı gibi faktörler yer almaktadır. Araştırmacının temel amacı özellikle genç bireylerin haberden kaçınmasına neden olan faktörlerin belirlenmesi ve onların bakış açısından bu faktörlerin nasıl değerlendirildiğinin ortaya konmasıdır. Bu amaçla lisans ve lisansüstü eğitim almakta olan 24 öğrenci ile derinlemesine görüşmeler yapılmış ve kendi deneyimleri çerçevesinde neden haberden uzak durdukları anlaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. Ortaya çıkan nedenlerin büyük oranda alanyazında ortaya konmuş nedenlerle örtüştüğü görülmektedir.
When it comes to understanding news audiences in rural areas, scholars often focus on declining readership and the challenge of how to encourage existing audiences to pay for content. There too has been burgeoning interest in news avoidance more broadly in digital spaces, with an emphasis on studying those who actively or intentionally resist or reject the news. This paper explores a gap in the research by seeking to understand the conditions and circumstances in which people who do not engage with their local news in print or digital format might be activated to do so. The paper presents the findings of an Australian survey of Facebook users who live in rural and regional areas and identify as people who do not engage with their local news. Findings highlight the need to conceptualise a subsection of the audience who express a desire to engage with their local news but perceive barriers to doing so. These barriers include cost, accessibility and perceived quality of content. We introduce the term ‘latent’ audience – potential news consumers who remain hidden from industry and scholarly view until changing conditions and circumstances lead to their manifestation.
Over half of our news use is comprised of habits: routine behavior that is firmly ingrained in people's everyday life. Conversely, citizens who have not taken up news in their daily routines rarely form novel patterns of news use. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how news habits come into being, especially in real-life situations. Previous research suggests that considerable life changes and disruptions in daily routines can give rise to the adaptation or formation of habits. This paper asks how and to what extent citizens created novel patterns of news use or adapted existing news routines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Connecting insights from social psychology to journalism and audience studies, it analyzes which affective, social and contextual cues stimulate or hinder news habit formation. Employing a questionnaire with open-ended questions with 1293 Dutch news users, we identified 5 groups of news users whose news habits each demonstrate a different response to the COVID-19 pandemic: news avoiders, followers turned avoiders, stable news users, frequent news users and news junkies. In-depth follow-up interviews with these users (N = 22) show that differences in users’ everyday context, social cues, levels of stress and anxiety, and affective cues may explain these different behaviors.
While digital technologies and digital devices have made our lives more convenient and efficient, they are associated with physical, mental, and social problems. In response to this, people desire to temporarily ditch their digital devices and refrain from the always-wired world when holidaying. This study examines factors that drive travellers to take a digital detox holiday (DDH), drawing on uses and gratifications theory. We used a mixed methods approach by carrying out a qualitative study followed by two quantitative studies. Through the qualitative study, we identified eight motives of the DDH: mindfulness, technostress, self-expression, social bonding, nature connectedness, relaxation, escapism, and novelty. Through the quantitative studies, we explored the factor structure of the DDH motives and tested the research model that explicates how the eight factors predict the intention to take a DDH. We found that mindfulness, technostress, relaxation, and self-expression each determine the traveller’s DDH intention.
The growing reliance on social media via mobile devices is changing how individuals obtain, engage with, and learn from news content. Based on the cognitive mediation model of learning from the news, this study qualitatively explores this three-step process of news exposure, engagement, and knowledge via digital media. Focus group discussions with post-Millennials ( N = 60) and thematic analysis of the results reveal several tensions. Participants see social media as imperfect but unavoidably convenient ways to get news, and they find the personalised news content available to be both a benefit and a drawback. They show a general hesitation to engage publicly with news content, opting mostly to passively observe others’ discussions on social media. Finally, they feel that social media give them a sense of awareness of current events, but do not prompt deeper learning about news topics.
There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that independent magazines, also known as ‘independents’, are thriving in Australia’s print media industry. As ‘maverick’ editors, owners and publishers focus more on the design and aesthetic aspects of their publications in response to changing reader expectations, there appears to be a demand for independents among female readers. In particular, young adult female readers are choosing to engage with independent women’s magazines in Australia, placing particular emphasis on the aesthetic reading experience offered by the hard-copy format. To explore this phenomenon, a survey and focus group were conducted among women aged 18–24 years, using Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory as the theoretical framework. The initial survey garnered findings from 300 respondents, while the focus group consisted of six participants. One key aspect of the results is that aesthetics is central to understanding the continued appeal and use of such a medium. Other aspects include quality of content, entertainment, escape, collection and habit, and ease of use. In an age where ‘digital’ is often regarded as the norm, young adult female readers are seeking inspiration and expression from independent women’s magazines.
News avoidance is considered an increasing problem for the news industry and democracy at large. As news companies lose consumers, democracy loses the informed foundation for an engaged citizenry. Meanwhile, research on news avoidance is hampered by the lack of a common understanding of the phenomenon. In this conceptual study, we first review and discuss extant conceptualizations and operationalisations of news avoidance. Second, we present a model distinguishing two types of news avoidance—intentional and unintentional—depending on the underlying causes leading people to tune out. Third, we argue that different solutions apply to the two types of news avoidance. To engage intentional news avoiders, the news selection and news presentation must to be changed. To engage unintentional news avoiders, the opportunity structures provided in the media system must be more favourable towards inadvertent news exposure.
Newspapers are key information sources and may influence both public opinion and policy. Previous studies have analysed the portrayal of ecosystem disservices in newspapers, but none have assessed the relative coverage between disservices and services, or how it might have changed over time. We report on the relative frequency and depiction of ecosystem services and disservices in South African, English newspapers over a 15-year period. We used a SABINET search complemented by key-informant interviews with environmental journalists. For each article we recorded if it covered ecosystem services or disservices, the type of service or disservice, and article tone and length. Overall, 2,201 articles were found, of which 25% were on services and 75% on disservices. The number of articles per year declined over the 15-year period for services, but not disservices. The most common services were energy and craft materials, food production, recreation and culture, and disservices were human health, heat waves and floods. Articles on ecosystem services were 25–40% longer than those on disservices. Article lengths on both declined over the 15 years. The greater reporting of ecosystem disservices over services is likely to influence public opinion and environmental decision-making accordingly. EDITED BY Kurt Jax
This study attempts to examine the dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) skepticism and to identify the strongest predictor by testing the relationships between the skepticism constructs and public responses. The study further examines the role of cynicism either as an antecedent, a moderator, or a component of CSR skepticism. Through a series of model tests, three factors of CSR skepticism were identified to better predict public responses to CSR: (a) skepticism toward a company’s altruism, (b) disbelief of CSR messages and CSR activities, and (c) skepticism toward CSR informativeness. Skepticism toward a company’s altruism was identified as the strongest predictor in determining negative public response to CSR, whereas cynicism did not have much predictive power to explain public response to CSR; as a result, it was excluded from the final dimensions of CSR skepticism.
In the changing news environment, young adult audiences, often dubbed ‘the Internet generation’, have increasingly gravitated toward online sources of news and information, raising questions about the nature and amount of news consumed. This study joins many others in looking at the emerging processes of news consumption among, in this case, college students, using focus group interviews to further examine how they go about obtaining news. Drawing upon literature in the areas of news consumption, media habits, generational change and news repertoire, this study identifies an emerging three-stage process of consumption that includes the following: routine surveillance, incidental consumption, and directed consumption, each conditioned by various forms of new media use. It suggests continued research in the interaction of a changing media ecology with generational adoption of news habits and the implications of this interaction for news and news engagement.
Focus groups with teenagers (ages 15–18) were conducted to understand how they define news; what motivates them to consume news; what news sources they use; and how much knowledge about the news media industry, content, and effects they bring to the task of consuming and thinking critically about the news. Findings suggested exposure to news came largely incidentally via social media and/or parents; participants expressed the sense that news would find them. These teens saw news as depressing, conflict-ridden, and something that, although important, was of less value to them than to adults. Considered in light of a media literacy model adapted for news, these focus group participants exhibited a basic sense of news literacy but lacked the kind of knowledge about news industries, content, and effects that could better direct their own exposure, understanding, and subsequent civic engagement.
Nähe zum Rezipienten ist für Regionalmedien von zentraler Bedeutung; in der Nachrichtenwerttheorie gilt sie als wichtiger Nachrichtenfaktor. Dabei wird die Nutzerperspektive allerdings lediglich antizipiert. Wissenschaftsberichterstattung in Regionalmedien gilt einerseits als profilbildendes Qualitätsmerkmal, andererseits als mangelbehaftet – nicht zuletzt wegen oft fehlender regionaler Bezüge. Gleichzeitig fordern Hochschulen vermehrt eine Thematisierung ihrer Forschung in der Regionalzeitung ein, wie sie der Bedeutung der jeweiligen Institutionen für das lokale öffentliche Leben angemessen ist. Für die Medien stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit eine – vergleichsweise aufwändige – Wissenschaftsberichterstattung auch eine breite Leserschaft anzieht. In dieser Arbeit werden daher am Beispiel der Nürnberger Zeitung unterschiedliche Strategien zur Herstellung eines Regionalbezugs für Themen aus der Wissenschaft untersucht. Nach einer inhaltsanalytischen Voruntersuchung werten wir mit einer quantitativen Befragung von n = 1.009 Abonnenten aus, welche Regionalisierungsstrategien aus Sicht der Leser besonders attraktiv sind. Hierbei zeigt sich eine unerwartet dominierende Bedeutung der (geografischen) Nähe eines Ereignisses gegenüber anderen, von Redaktionen eingesetzten lokalen Bezügen wie der Einbindung eines lokalen Experten in die regionale wie überregionale Berichterstattung.
Various operational problems confronting researchers working in the area of media gratifications are discussed. Strategies are delineated and difficulties inherent in each detailed Data from four studies are presented to provide solutions to some of these problems.
The mass media are ranked with respect to their perceived helpfulness in satisfying clusters of needs arising from social roles and individual dispositions. For example, integration into the sociopolitical order is best served by newspaper; while "knowing oneself" is best served by books. Cinema and books are more helpful as means of "escape" than is television. Primary relations, holidays and other cultural activities are often more important than the mass media in satisfying needs.
Television is the least specialized medium, serving many different personal and political needs. The "interchangeability" of the media over a variety of functions orders televisions, radio, newspapers, books, and cinema in a circumplex. We speculate about which attributes of the media explain the social and psychological needs they serve best. The data, drawn from an Israeli survey, are presented as a basis for cross-cultural comparison.
This article evaluates trends in young people's reading habits. In order to get a better understanding of reading habits, the article compares the results of comparative and longitudinal research with results of time budget analysis studies. In accordance with the principle of displacement, time consumption analysis confirms a relationship between television viewing time and reading time, although many variables are influential in this process. Time budget analysis also indicates that the decline in reading time has not been equal across different print media. The article presents the results of a research project that combined qualitative and quantitative research techniques to analyse the media usage of Flemish 16-to 18-year-olds. The results demonstrate that reading is influenced by many different variables, among which socializing variables are the strongest. The hypothesis that television viewing time has a negative effect on reading time has to be differentiated since the results show a different relationship between viewing time and the reading of books, magazines and newspapers respectively.
How do people respond when they are cut off from one of their regular sources of news? Some of the answers are given in this article, which reports reactions of New Yorkers to the Newspaper strike of December 1958. It is part of a larger study of the strike undertaken by the faculty and the students of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, where the author is Professor of Journalism. The author has been a writer, editor, and research consultant. He was formerly assistant to the Sunday Editor of the New York Times , senior editor of Collier's member of the TV-Radio Workshop of the Ford Foundation, and a partner of Louis Harris and Associates, opinion research analysts.
Although a widely held viewpoint is that “the majority of the people get their news from television”, a national survey shows
equal proportions of the population reading newspapers and watching television news on a typical weekday. The study examines
the public's attitudes toward the press in general and toward the specific papers most often read. It also reports on the
most commonly read elements of newspaper content and notes the changing character of local news.