There's more to news media skepticism: a path analysis examining news media literacy, news media skepticism and misinformation behaviors
Abstract
Purpose
While much research has examined the effect of media literacy in combatting misinformation, whether and to what extent news media literacy influences misinformation-related behaviors (i.e. misinformation sharing, misinformation correction) and the mediating effect of news media skepticism in the process remain less explored. Moreover, this line of research has extensively focused on a polarized information context (e.g. the USA) with less attention to a context where news information is more regulated and centralized. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey study of 720 Chinese adults.
Findings
This study reveals that greater new media literacy predicts higher misinformation correction behaviors, but fails to predict caution in sharing misinformation. Findings further demonstrate a nuanced mediating effect of news media skepticism that challenges previous assertions about its protective role. That is, higher news media literacy is associated with lower news media skepticism; lower skepticism is in turn related to lower misinformation sharing and greater misinformation correction.
Originality/value
The current study integrates news media literacy and news media skepticism in understanding misinformation-related behaviors. Findings generally speak to the tangible benefits of news media literacy in helping motivate corrective actions among the general public. However, this study also strikes a cautious note that future investigations of news media skepticism would benefit from a cultural perspective. Its connections with perceptions and effects on behaviors could vary according to different types of media and political landscapes.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0172
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Qingdao University “Research on Media and Health Literacy of Chinese Citizens in the Context of Infodemic” under Grant [RZ2100005062].
Citation
Xiao, X. and Yang, W. (2023), "There's more to news media skepticism: a path analysis examining news media literacy, news media skepticism and misinformation behaviors", Online Information Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0172
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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