ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: HOW STUDENTS ACCESS, FILTER AND EVALUATE DIGITAL NEWS: CHOICES THAT SHAPE WHAT THEY CONSUME AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR NEWS LITERACY EDUCATION Elia Powers, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation Directed By: Dr. Ronald A. Yaros Philip Merrill College of Journalism Being an informed citizen in the digital age requires the ability to sift through an avalanche of news online and identify content that is credible and diverse. News literacy, a topic with a small but increasing presence in high school and college curricula, is concerned with training students to be discerning news consumers. Assessments of news literacy typically gauge the effects of exposure to news literacy curricula measured through student analysis of media messages selected by researchers. This exploratory, mixed-methods study instead examined how students with no formal news literacy instruction searched for news on a computer using their typical routine, their process of filtering and evaluating news about a topic of interest, and their awareness of their choices when accessing news online that shape what they consume. This study contributes to the understanding of what digital media concepts, cognitive strategies and evaluation criteria warrant targeting or greater emphasis in news literacy curricula. Survey results revealed that participants (n=244) typically spend a significant amount of time consuming video and written news, largely through digital platforms and mostly on a computer. They are mostly information scanners and more often stumble upon news online than seek out specific news of interest. Participants have a strong social interest in news, like to share stories with others, and are often trusting of their social networks and technology to filter the news they consume. Concurrent think-aloud protocols and subsequent interviews with a subset of survey respondents (n=37) found that participants often did not pay close attention to the process by which they accessed and filtered news online, doing so in a state of automaticity instead of thinking critically. When asked to explain the thought processes underlying their news searches, a significant percentage of students lacked a conscious awareness or understanding of the strategies and evaluation criteria that potentially affect the credibility and diversity of news consumed. As a result, students’ online news habits often placed them at risk for consuming unreliable news and for adopting a hive mindset or being in a news silo. HOW STUDENTS ACCESS, FILTER AND EVALUATE DIGITAL NEWS: CHOICES THAT SHAPE WHAT THEY CONSUME AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR NEWS LITERACY EDUCATION by Elia Michael Powers Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee: Associate Professor Ronald A. Yaros, Chair Professor Peter Afflerbach Assistant Professor June Ahn Assistant Professor Kalyani Chadha Professor Susan Moeller © Copyright by Elia Michael Powers 2014 Acknowledgements Many people supported me through the process of completing this dissertation. Dr. Ronald A. Yaros was an exemplary advisor, spending countless hours brainstorming with me in his office and always providing immediate, thoughtful feedback. His guidance enabled me to stay on schedule and emerge with a clear understanding of the research process. Dr. Peter Afflerbach went far above and beyond the duties of a committee member through his mentorship on designing this study using the think-aloud method. Dr. Susan Moeller pushed me to think critically about my definition of news literacy and how it reflects the ways in which students access media in the digital age. Dr. Kalyani Chadha and Dr. June Ahn pointed me to key theories and research in their respective fields. Thank you to Kimberly Davis, Dr. Sergey Golitsynskiy, Melissa Janoske, Jessica Lu, Jade Olson, Mike Paquette, Timothy Penn, Yvonne Slosarski, and the other instructors and residential college leaders for helping me recruit prospective study participants. Finally, thank you to my wife, Mara Gandal-Powers, for your moral support and patience throughout the past four years, and to Howard and Linda Powers for being such supportive and engaged parents. I could not have done this without you. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................... …...v Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 News Media Landscape in the Digital Age .................................................................... 1 News Consumption Habits ....................................................................................2 Profiling Young News Consumers ........................................................................4 News Customization and Personalization .............................................................5 The Need for News Literacy ......................................................................................... 11 News and Media Literacy in the Classroom ................................................................. 13 History of Media and News Literacy ............................................................................ 15 Dissertation Purpose ..................................................................................................... 22 Dissertation Organization ............................................................................................. 24 Chapter 2: Explicating News Literacy .............................................................................. 25 Definitions of Media Literacy ....................................................................................... 26 News Literacy as a Distinct Form of Media Literacy ................................................... 29 The Constructs of News Literacy Guiding This Study ................................................. 30 Theories Guiding News Literacy .................................................................................. 32 Cognitive Theory of Media Literacy ...................................................................33 Two-Step Flow and Primary/Media Socialization Theories ...............................35 Active Audience Theories ...................................................................................37 Critical Thinking Theories ...................................................................................39 How Theory Has Shaped the Constructs of News Literacy ................................42 News Literacy Pedagogy .............................................................................................. 44 Constructivist Pedagogy ......................................................................................45 Chapter 3: Assessing News Literacy ................................................................................ 47 Construct Validity ......................................................................................................... 47 Holistic Assessment and Ecological Validity ............................................................... 48 Application of Assessment Methodologies to News Literacy ...................................... 51 Online News Users’ Habits and Interests ..................................................................... 54 Accessing News ............................................................................................................ 55 Filtering News ............................................................................................................... 58 Credibility Evaluation ................................................................................................... 60 Awareness ..................................................................................................................... 64 Chapter 4: Method ............................................................................................................ 68 Design ........................................................................................................................... 68 Sample........................................................................................................................... 68 Instrumentation ............................................................................................................. 69 Online Survey ......................................................................................................69 Think-Aloud Protocols ........................................................................................71 iii Computer Screen Capture ....................................................................................73 Semi-Structured Interviews .................................................................................73 Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 75 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 81 Theory,