Processing news on social media. The political incidental news exposure model (PINE)

Author(s)
Jörg Matthes, Andreas Nanz, Marlis Stubenvoll, Raffael Heiss
Abstract

This article outlines the Political Incidental News Exposure Model. The Political Incidental News Exposure Model understands incidental news exposure as a dynamic process and distinguishes two levels of incidental news exposure: the passive scanning of incidentally encountered political information (first level) and the intentional processing of incidentally encountered content appraised as relevant (second level). After encountering political information incidentally, recipients briefly check the content for relevance (i.e., first level). If content is appraised as relevant, recipients switch to more intensive processing (i.e., second level incidental news exposure). Importantly, second-level incidental news exposure is assumed to have stronger effects on political outcome variables like participation and knowledge than first-level incidental news exposure. The Political Incidental News Exposure Model further acknowledges intention-based (i.e., incidental news exposure while not looking for political news) and topic-based incidental news exposure (i.e., incidental news exposure while looking for other political news) and it conceptualizes incidental news exposure with respect to political and non-political content. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

Organisation(s)
Department of Communication
External organisation(s)
MCI Management Center Innsbruck
Journal
Journalism
Volume
21
Pages
1031-1048
No. of pages
18
ISSN
1464-8849
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920915371
Publication date
08-2020
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
508007 Communication science, 508014 Journalism
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Communication, Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/processing-news-on-social-media-the-political-incidental-news-exposure-model-pine(9b011d22-2457-4b28-924e-68120d273b5d).html