Untitled by mattysimpson, licence CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Social media does not increase political knowledge

Using social media for political information does not actually help the audience learn anything about politics, Adam Shehata and Jesper Strömbäck, both of University of Gothenburg, write. The authors analysed data from two multi-wave surveys, together consisting of responses from over 4 500 Swedes. In both surveys, the respondents were first asked to fill in … Continued

Tags: , , ,
Published: 19 Jan 2018
Untitled by rawpixel, licence CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: When news are distant, stories shared by friends and newspapers are as credible

What makes news seem credible on social media? Edson C. Tandoc Jr., of Nanyang Technological University, researched the question through an experiment with 82 Singaporean university students. The participants each read two (fake) news articles shared to them on Facebook. The articles were shared by either the prestigious Singaporean newspaper The Strait Times or personal … Continued

Tags: , ,
Published: 15 Jan 2018
Picture: Kid, child, childhood and blonde by Bekah Russom, license CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Political views influence how individuals perceive partisan news media brands

How do people’s political ideology affect perceptions of news media brand personality? Danny D. E. Kim of the University of Pennsylvania, analysed 588 survey responses in the US across the dimensions of aggression, heroism and warmth. Political ideology has little impact with regard to mainstream media, the author found. However, there were significant differences for … Continued

Tags: , ,
Published: 9 Jan 2018
Untitled by Michael Gaida, licence CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Hard news pictures engage younger audience

What kind of photojournalism is best at engaging the audience? T.J. Thomson and Keith Greenwood, both of University of Missouri, investigated the question through a Q method study with 30 American Instagram users. Thomson and Greenwood selected 16 Instagram accounts of established news organisations and photojournalists. They then selected the three most well-received images from … Continued

Tags: , , ,
Published: 8 Jan 2018
Untitled by rawpixel, licence CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Solutions journalism will leave readers feeling less anxious

When writing about problems, journalists should also include information on solutions, Karen McIntyre, of Virginia Commonwealth University, writes. McIntyre conducted an experiment with 110 American college students. First the participants were asked to estimate their current mood. Then they proceeded to read versions of two problem-focused news articles, after which the participants were surveyed again. … Continued

Tags: ,
Published: 18 Dec 2017
Untitled by Miranda Bleijenberg, licence CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: Who re-tweets clickbait links on Twitter?

Who forwards “clickbait” links on Twitter, and how do those Twitter messages differ from “non-clickbait” tweets? Abhijnan Chakraborty, Rajdeep Sarkar, Ayushi Mrigen and Niloy Ganguly, all of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, studied the questions by analysing millions of tweets and re-tweets. The team started with 12 media organisations present on Twitter. This included both … Continued

Tags: , ,
Published: 15 Dec 2017
Picture: Macro Ten Dollar Bill by Eli Christman, license CC BY 2.0, adjusted light

REPORT: Segmenting news subscribers by mindsets

Identifying news subscriber personas gives publishers a new way of thinking about their audience, writes Tran Ha, of American Press Institute, in a new report. As a part of their Media Insight Project, the institute conducted in-depth interviews with 15 people who represent different extremes in news subscription behavior. Based on these interviews, the authors … Continued

Tags: , ,
Published: 14 Dec 2017
Picture: Group shot, by Jojo Bombardo, license CC BY-ND 2.0

ARTICLE: British readers spend more time with newspapers in print than online

Even though newspaper circulations have been falling and news are consumed more via smartphones, readers still spend much more time with newspapers’ print versions than with their websites and apps, a study finds. Neil Thurman of LMU Munich and City, University of London, and Richard Fletcher of the University of Oxford, compared time spent with … Continued

Tags: , , ,
Published: 13 Dec 2017