The role of news factors in media use

Christiane Eilders

Discussion Papers, Research Unit: The Public and the Social Movement from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: News value research has contributed a great deal to the understanding of the process of news selection. This study takes a fairly uncommon perspective by focusing on the news selection of recipients rather than journalists. It departs from the assumption that journalists and recipients select according to the same general human principles of information processing. Cognitive psychology, in particular the psychology of attention, suggests several explanations for the effectiveness of news factors as selection criteria: News factors indicate relevance and thus are plausible selection criteria that allow for an efficient reduction of world complexity. The impact of news factors on media use is investigated employing content analysis and media use data derived from audience diaries of a week's paper and magazine use. Bivariate analyses of the news factors in articles used and articles not used indicate that news factors influence media use. Respondents prefer articles of high news value to articles of low news value. Multivariate analyses qualified this result showing that not so much the news factors but rather the formal characteristics of an article determine selection. The discussion focuses on the question whether recipients might use formal characteristics as shortcuts for judging the relevance of an article.

Date: 1996
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