Social Media News Use and Political Cynicism: Differential Pathways Through “News Finds Me” Perception

Author(s)
Hyunjin Song, Homero Gil de Zuniga, Hajo Boomgaarden
Abstract

As citizens inadvertently "encounter" news and political information through digital media and social networking sites, they might perceive themselves to be well informed about politics without actively seeking political information, which has been labeled as the "News Finds Me" (NFM) perception. We attempt to explicate and further advance the conceptualization and corresponding measurement of "News Finds Me" perception. Using a nationally representative survey conducted in Austria, our analysis shows that social media news use may contribute to cynicism towards politics, and that such a relationship is critically mediated through NFM perceptions, but to a differential degree depending on specific sub-dimensions of NFM perceptions.

Organisation(s)
Department of Communication
Journal
Mass Communication and Society
Volume
23
Pages
47-70
No. of pages
24
ISSN
1520-5436
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2019.1651867
Publication date
01-2020
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
508012 Media impact studies
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Communication
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/social-media-news-use-and-political-cynicism-differential-pathways-through-news-finds-me-perception(4cbe592a-7195-4489-b2f2-d87ec9e9a730).html