Madhumita Das
Ph.D. Scholar of Journalism and Mass Communication
School of Journalism and New Media Studies
Indira Gandhi National Open University
New Delhi, India
Email Id: anamika381das [at] gmail.com
The study is on news literacy that is a major area under Media and Information Literacy. This study is a conjugation of the section theme and the general conference theme “Reimagining the Digital Future: Building Inclusiveness, Respect and Reciprocity”
News literacy under the umbrella term of Media and Information Literacy, allows news consumers to go beyond the periphery of the content and to examine the structures, institutions, practices, and routines that shape news media systems. News literacy is important for news consumers in 21st century digital world. Social media engages people with the dynamic nature of news as well as fake news, misinformation, propaganda and sponsored content. The individuals who use social media are exposed to high levels of information and thus they would have a better understanding of the dynamism of news. The volume of information exposure effects the news literacy of individuals.
The objective of the research is to study the correlation between news literacy and social media usage patterns of individuals. The researcher will measure the news literacy level and social media usage level of the respondents to test the correlation. The conceptual framework for this study is based on notable work on the discourse of news literacy. The researcher has selected a tested tool developed by Ashley, Maksl and Craft (2015) to measure the news literacy which contains three constructs. The constructs are mindful thought processing, media locus of control and news media knowledge structure. Each of the constructs corresponds to elements from Potter’s (2004) model of media literacy. The study will use Peterson and Johnston (2015) social media usage measurement scale to measure the social media usage level of individuals. Three hypotheses are formed based on three constructs these are as follows:
H1: The higher the level of social media usage, the higher the level of mindful thought processing. H2: The higher the level of social media usage, the higher the levels of media locus control. H3: The higher the level of social media usage, the higher the levels of news media knowledge structure.
Individuals who use social media are exposed to multiple sources of news. They might prefer to use social media to know daily facts. Another hypothesis is formed on this notion is as follows:
H4: The higher the levels of social media usage, the higher the preference for non-traditional news media sources.
The research will follow a quantitative approach of research and the survey method (schedule) will be used for data collection. The sample will be drawn from the college students (Bachelor’s Degree) from West Bengal (A State in India). SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) will be used to analyze the data collected from the college students. The research will be completed by May 2020.
Keywords: News Literacy, Social Media Usage, News