Mass Communication Commons^™

Political Engagement During A Presidential Election Year: A Case Study Of Media Literacy Students, Elia M. Powers, Susan D. Moeller, Yacong Yuan

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This exploratory, mixed-methods study uses data gathered during the previous U.S. presidential election in 2012 to evaluate student political engagement and digital culture. Survey results and media diary entries revealed that college students enrolled in a media literacy course during Super Tuesday or Election Day gravitated toward low-barrier political actions and expressive modes of citizenship, and they were most engaged when there was a social component to following election news. These results, coupled with recent data on political engagement and media consumption, present an opportunity to consider the role of digital platforms and online communities in the 2016 election.

Reading Is Remembering: The Effect Of Reading Vs. Watching News On Memory And Metamemory, Hesham M. Mesbah

Speaker & Gavel

From which news medium can audiences acquire information best? To what extent does the news source affect receivers’ feelings of knowing? Will the effect of a news source on confidence in knowledge, if any, stay over time?

Exposure to either print or electronic news media is a daily habit for an average person in today’s world. Computerized news transmitted via networks and online services led to more diversification in news presentations. Such diversity inspired many scholars to investigate the comparative effectiveness of news media on memory processes. The study reported here examines the effect of exposure to different news media …

A Multi-Dimensional Approach To Measuring News Media Literacy, Emily K. Vraga, Melissa Tully, John E. Kotcher, Anne-Bennett Smithson, Melissa Broeckelman-Post

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Measuring news media literacy is important in order for it to thrive in a variety of educational and civic contexts. This research builds on existing measures of news media literacy and two new scales are presented that measure self-perceived media literacy (SPML) and perceptions of the value of media literacy (VML). Research with a larger sample of college undergraduate students and a smaller sample of adults enabled the validation of these measures. Results confirm the value of conceptualizing news media literacy using the theoretical subcomponents of authors & audiences, messages & meaning, and representation & realities. The VML scale, in …