• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1-17
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• 2013

As online communities proliferate, online news sites have received great attention in news media research. Although most of the online news sites provide contents for free, some have adopted the Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) model by offering a voluntary payment option to the readers. In this study, we investigate the factors which influence subscribers' voluntary payment behavior on an online news site. Drawing upon both the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), we hypothesize that appreciation has a direct effect on the subscribers' voluntary payment behavior, whereas central factors (positive emotional content, cognitive content) and peripheral factors (news sharing, news article length) of the news articles have indirect impacts on voluntary payment behavior through the enhanced appreciation. Based on an empirical analysis of 172 news articles from the Korean online news site that adopted the PWYW pricing model (i.e., Ohmynews.com), we find that appreciation plays a critical role in voluntary payment behavior and that peripheral factors have significant impacts on appreciation. However, the impacts of central factors on appreciation are not found. By identifying influencing factors of subscribers' voluntary payment behavior on online news sites for the first time, this paper suggests a prospective alternative profit model for online news providers faced with fierce competition.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2022

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.

• 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.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.31-42
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• 2024

Today, news avoidance has become an inevitable trend, particularly exacerbated since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. To delve deeper into the shifting tendencies of news consumers towards news avoidance and unveil the motivations behind this avoidance, this study recruited 500 Chinese news consumers aged between 20 and 60 years old, employing survey questionnaires as the research method. Through an indepth examination of their news consumption behavior at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we discovered that individuals' risk perceptions and efficacy beliefs significantly influence their patterns of news consumption. Furthermore, we identified negative emotions, information overload, and media distrust as the primary reasons for news avoidance among Chinese news consumers during the COVID-19 crisis. These findings Not only provide crucial insights into understanding the dynamics of news consumption behavior but also offer valuable reference points for the news industry to better fulfill its role and value during crises in the future.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2020

The popularity of social media has led to a variety of communicative behaviors among users. This study targeted Facebook as a representative social medial platform because it has the most subscribers in order to investigate factors that influence Facebook usage. In particular, because a person's behavior is based on how they are perceived by others, self-conscious behavior was examined in the study. Facebook usage and news consumption were examined to ascertain the effects of self-consciousness. An online survey was conducted to examine how private SC and public SC (SCs), affects Facebook usage (profiles and writing posts) and news consumption (clicking "like" and sharing news). 616 participants completed the survey, and results indicated that public SC was positively related to the degree of profile updating and post writing. On the other hand, private SC was positively related to the degree of news sharing. These results suggest that psychological elements significantly predict a user's behavior on Facebook.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.105-112
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• 2020

The present study aims to explore news sharers' characteristic. Specifically, it aims to look at news sharers' demographic characteristics, old media news usage and new media news usage. Besides, it also explores factors affecting news sharing behavior. The study used the second data of Korea Press Foundation. Findings from surveys suggest that first, news sharers are younger and have higher education than not news sharers. Second, news sharers use less news through old media while more news through new media. Third, political orientation, portal, SNS and online video platform new usage, messenger news reliability have positive effects on news sharing, while age and portal news reliability have negative effects on it. Based on these findings, implication, limitations, and topics for future research are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.325-344
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the overall web information seeking behavior of news reporters and analyze its correlation with parameters that characterize information needs, preferred sources of information, information technology and internet use and satisfaction. For this purpose, a survey of205 news reporters working at domestic newspaper companies, including daily newspapers, magazines, and online newspapers was conducted. News reporters' primary purposes of seeking web information were to simply check facts and collect overall background information. Their information needs had close association with their position, media type, and familiarity with the internet, but with little association with gender, age, and reporting area.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to understand if heterogeneous news is evenly consumed and distributed on portals as it examines people's news use and engagement behaviors and news credibility. Focusing on the four behaviors of news use, i.e., viewing news by keyword search, viewing news from subscribed sources, viewing news from the list of most-viewed news, and reading comments, and the three behaviors of news engagement, i.e., sharing news, 'liking' or 'recommending' news, and posting comments, this study investigates the relation between each of the behaviors and portal news credibility. Research design, data and methodology: From 2022 News Audience Survey in Korea, this study conducts a regression analysis to investigate the relations between each behavior and news credibility. Results: The results show a positive relation for the former two news use behaviors and the latter two news engagement behaviors, and a negative relation for the latter two news use behaviors. Conclusions: The positive relations between active news use and engagement behaviors and portal news credibility indicate that news consumers are more likely to use and engage in attitude-consistent news rather than attitude-challenging news, implying that heterogeneous news is less likely to be consumed and distributed evenly on portals across all news users.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.454-460
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• 2021

This study attempted to empirically analyze how the use of portal news is related with user's social credibility levels. 1100 subjects were sampled and online-surveyed. The amount of news usage and level of social credibility were measured respectively by the PNRBS(Portal News Readership Behavior Score) and SCI(Social Credibility Index) which were developed by the researcher. The results show that the relationship between scocial credibility and portal new use is not a linear but some V type. In terms of the mean score of social credibility index, non-portal news user is the highest while the light user is the lowest and the heavy user is the second highest.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.67-104
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• 2020

Fake news and disinformation provoked heated arguments during Taiwan's 2018 local election. Most significantly, concerns grew that Beijing was attempting to sway the island's politics armed with a new "Russian-style influence campaign" weapon (Horton, 2018). To investigate the speculated effects of the "onslaught of misinformation," an online survey with 1068 randomly selected voters was conducted immediately after the election. Findings confirmed that false news affected Taiwanese voters' judgment of the news and their voting decisions. More than 50% of the voters cast their votes without knowing the correct campaign news. In particular, politically neutral voters, who were the least able to discern fake news, tended to vote for the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) candidates. Demographic analysis further revealed that female voters tended to be more likely to believe fake news during the election period compared to male voters. Younger or lower-income voters had the lowest levels of discernment of fake news. Further analyses and the implications of these findings for international societies are deliberated in the conclusion.