• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.86-101
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• 2022

This research aimed at studying the factors that influence new media exposure of political news by youths in Isan society in Thailand. The target group comprised 1,200 individuals, obtained from multi-stage sampling from undergraduate students in Isan's autonomous universities, governmental universities, and private institutions. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, the content of which was validated by experts. The reliability of the tool was tested by the formula for Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which yielded a reliability of 0.83. Multiple regression analysis was applied to analyze the data. The results, regarding factors influencing the channels for political news exposure, showed that channels for political news exposure were mostly influenced by inner drives, followed by importance in political news exposure, influence from social networks, and specific characteristics of the Internet. This could explain the variation of channels for political news exposure at 46.5%. In terms of factors influencing political news selection, it was found that political news selection was influenced mostly from social networks, followed by inner drives, benefits from political news exposure, specific characteristics of the Internet, and the field of study. The variation of the political news selection could be explained at 44.6%. These results elaborate on the current situation in Thailand, especially in Isan region, where youths in higher education are playing an increasing role in demonstrating their political stance through various political activities.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.48-64
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• 2021

This study examines mobile news engagement-conceptualized as news exposure and participation-in the context of South Asia which has experienced tremendous growth in mobile-Internet users without receiving much attention from communication scholars. Along with demographic characteristics, this research incorporates motivational factors (grounded on uses and gratifications-U&G-approach) and news type preferences to explore their roles in mobile news engagement among urban citizens in Bangladesh. Results of a self-administered survey (N = 504) revealed that participants' mobile news engagement partially varied depending on their demographic differences, particularly gender, age, and education. Our study also unveiled that individuals' motivation for sharing information seemed to be a strong predictor of mobile news exposure and participation. In addition, Bangladeshi respondents were more likely to be interested in the hard news in terms of expressing views on news comments and sharing news via mobile platform. Conversely, preference for soft type news had a significant influence on news exposure through mobile browsing. This study provides insights into the understanding of global phenomena of mobile news engagement by unpacking the case of Bangladesh where mobile news usage seems to be an evolving state.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2016

This exploratory study examines the critical factors associated with news consumers' perception of information overload and news consumption patterns. An online survey was conducted with Qualtrics panels (N = 1001). The demographics and three antecedent factors of perceived information overload were considered including the frequency of news access through multiple media platforms, level of attention to news, and interest in news. Three news consumption patterns were investigated as possible consequences of perceived information overload: news avoidance, selective exposure, and willingness to pay for news. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed a meaningful distinction between general and news information overload. Overall, news consumers who paid more attention to news through newer media/platforms/devices perceived higher levels of information overload, were more willing to pay for the news, and often avoided news or selectively exposed themselves to certain sources of news to manage news information overload.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.237-258
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• 2021

The purpose of this research was to empirically explore the association between exposure to news of the nth Room Case, indirect trauma, and beliefs about the world among adults in their 20s. A total of 228 adults in their 20s participated in an online survey designed to study the association above. Analysis using SPSS 25.0 showed that participants who were exposed to more related news immediately after the nth Room case was revealed experienced a higher level of indirect trauma. Furthermore, indirect trauma fully mediated the relationship between exposure to the news of the nth Room Case and beliefs about the world. This study empirically demonstrated the impact of news exposure on beliefs about the world through indirect trauma, suggesting that, like disasters, sex crimes can cause indirect trauma to third parties through the news. However, this study was limited to adults in their 20s, and most of the participants were women; therefore, future studies using samples representing demographically more diverse groups are needed. Future research could also examine the possibility of emotional contagion mediating or moderating the relationship between news exposure and indirect trauma.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.18-32
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• 2021

Social media has become a popular source of information around the world. Previous studies explored different trends of social media news consumption. However, no studies have focused on Bangladesh to date, where social media penetration is very high in recent years. To fill this gap, this research aimed to understand its popularity trends during the period. For that reason, this work analyzes 97.67 million page likes and 3.48 billion interaction data collected from nine Bangladeshi news media's Facebook pages between December 2016 to November 2020. The analysis shows that the growth rates of page likes and interaction rates declined during this period. It suggests that the media's Facebook pages are gradually losing their popularity among Facebook users, which may have two more interpretations: Facebook's aggregate appeal as a news source is decreasing to users, or Bangladeshi media's appeal is eroding to Facebook users. These findings challenge the previous results, i.e., Facebook's demand as a news source is increasing with time. We offer four explanations of the decreased popularity of Facebook's news: information overload, exposure to incidental news, users' selective exposure and different aims of using Facebook, and conflict between media agendas and users' interests. Some theoretical and practical significance of the results has been discussed as well.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.411-430
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• 2016

The purpose of the present study was to examine psychological consequences of indirect trauma exposure through the disaster news. Participants(N=439) completed some self-report questionnaires such as Posttraumatic Risk Checklist(PRC), Impact of Event Scale-Revised(IES-R), and Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale(MFODS) at 68.11(±18.47) days after the Sewol ferry disaster. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling by AMOS 23.0 program. The results showed that fear of death and periand post-traumatic crisis factors mediated the association of news exposure immediately after disaster and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Findings in this study indicated that news exposure immediately after disaster influenced fear of death which led to the peri- and post-traumatic crisis, and these crisis factors increased posttraumatic stress symptoms. Finally, limitations of this study and suggestions for future study were discussed.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.40-53
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• 2019

Although fake news has been present in human history at any time, nowadays, with social media, deceptive information has a stronger effect on society than before. This article answers two research questions, namely (1) Is the dissemination of fake news supported by machines through the automatic construction of filter bubbles, and (2) Are echo chambers of fake news manmade, and if yes, what are the information behavior patterns of those individuals reacting to fake news? We discuss the role of filter bubbles by analyzing social media's ranking and results' presentation algorithms. To understand the roles of individuals in the process of making and cultivating echo chambers, we empirically study the effects of fake news on the information behavior of the audience, while working with a case study, applying quantitative and qualitative content analysis of online comments and replies (on a blog and on Reddit). Indeed, we found hints on filter bubbles; however, they are fed by the users' information behavior and only amplify users' behavioral patterns. Reading fake news and eventually drafting a comment or a reply may be the result of users' selective exposure to information leading to a confirmation bias; i.e. users prefer news (including fake news) fitting their pre-existing opinions. However, it is not possible to explain all information behavior patterns following fake news with the theory of selective exposure, but with a variety of further individual cognitive structures, such as non-argumentative or off-topic behavior, denial, moral outrage, meta-comments, insults, satire, and creation of a new rumor.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.391-406
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• 2024

The current distribution of digital news has the potential to produce politically biased information for users as a result of individual choices and media selection based on those choices. Consequently, this research explored the factors affecting individual news selection and the effects of opinion changes and political participation that can occur when news tailored to users' partisan preferences is recommended. The phenomenon of selective exposure has been shown to be stronger when individuals utilize more limited information processing, experience higher discussion efficacy among groups with similar political beliefs. Furthermore, When a selective exposure group was randomly provided with a one-way message news that matched their partisan leanings, it was found that opinion consolidation, opinion-reinforcing information processing, and online political participation. On the other hand, when they were randomly presented with two-way messaging news in which the media balanced two competing partisan positions, they were found to be more likely to understand the other side's views and arguments, and more willing to adjust their existing opinions. We are confirmed that the balanced use of various opinions is very important in deliberative democratic process.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.373-381
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• 2022

The Fukushima nuclear power plant water spill caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 raised fears about radiation exposure through consumption of radioactively contaminated seafood. The Korean government banned importing agricultural and fishery products from eight prefectures near Fukushima, but the related news were continuously reported partly due to the WTO dispute with Japan, which seems to have aggravated consumers' anxiety about seafood. In this study, data on daily purchases of products for three years (2018-2020) were collected and the effect of Japanese radiation-related news on domestic consumers' purchases of seafood was estimated using a polynomial lag distributed model. As a result of the analysis, it was found that radiation-related news had a statistically significant negative effect on the purchase of seafood on the 5th and 6th days after exposure to consumers through the media. It captures the carryover effect in which consumers' perceptions are reflected in the purchase of seafood after exposure to related news.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.1-22
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• 2016

News contents has been collected, selected, edited and sometimes distorted by the news recommendation mechanisms of online portals in nowadays. Prior studies had not confirmed the consensus of newsworthiness, and they had not tried to empirically validate the impacts of newsworthiness on audience reactions. This study challenged to summarize the concepts of newsworthiness and validate the impact of representativeness of both editor's and audience's perspective on audience reactions as perceived news quality, trust on news portal, perceived usefulness, service satisfaction, loyalty, continuous usage intention, and word-of-mouth intention by adopting the representativeness heuristics method and information adoption model. 357 valid data had been collected using a scenario survey method. Subjects in each groups are exposed by 3 news recommendation mechanisms: 1) the time-priority news exposure mechanism (control group), 2) the reference-score-based news recommendation mechanism (a single treatment group), and 3) the major-news-priority exposure mechanism sorting by the reference scores made by peer audiences (the mixed treatment group). Data had been analyzed by the MANOVA and PLS method. MANOVA results indicate that only mixed method of both editor and audience recommendation mechanisms impacts on perceived news quality and trust. PLS results indicate that perceived news quality and trust could significantly affect on the perceived usefulness, service satisfaction, loyalty, continuance usage, and word-of-mouth intention. This study would contributions to empathize the role of information technology in media industry, to conceptualize the news value in the balanced views of both editors and audiences, and to empirically validate the benefits of news recommendation mechanisms in academy. For practice, the results of this study suggest that online news portals would be better to make mixed news recommendation mechanisms to attract audiences.