The More Competent, the More Critical?
Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik 19 , Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik 19: Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt
Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik 19

The More Competent, the More Critical?
On the Influence of News Media Literacy on the Perception of Errors in News

Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik 19: Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt
https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/jb19/2023.03.18.X
Published 2023-03-18
Stefanie Holtrup
TU Dortmund University image/svg+xml
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1834-5918
Jakob Henke
TU Dortmund University image/svg+xml
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4998-8366
Wiebke Möhring
TU Dortmund University image/svg+xml
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6742-4268
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Keywords

news media literacy
errors in news
corrections
online study
news accuracy
user perceptions

How to Cite

Holtrup, Stefanie, Jakob Henke, and Wiebke Möhring. 2023. “The More Competent, the More Critical? On the Influence of News Media Literacy on the Perception of Errors in News”. MediaEducation: Journal for Theory and Practice of Media Education 19 (Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik):485-511. https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/jb19/2023.03.18.X.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Stefanie Holtrup, Jakob Henke, Wiebke Möhring

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

In the context of misinformation and inaccuracies in reporting, the knowledge and understanding of news production processes and conditions are crucial for news users’ perceptions of news content. However, research on the users’ perception of errors in news and the influence of corrections and individual factors is scarce. In two online experiments, we investigated the influence of corrections, newspaper type, and news media literacy on users’ perceptions of error severity and frequency. Corrections decreased the perceived severity of errors in both studies. News media literacy increased the perceived severity of errors in political news (Study 1) but not in sports news (Study 2). Further, news-literate users perceived errors in political news as more frequent. Newspaper type did not influence user perceptions. These results support the need for transparency and the importance of user characteristics – especially news media literacy – when studying perceptions of journalistic products.

https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/jb19/2023.03.18.X

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