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The development of technology in media provides advanced communication processes and sources of information conventionally provided by news agencies, but today, media users can create information. The ability to create media content benefits the exposure to social media use and affects the Government's decision to lower the voting age in Malaysia (Undi18). The implementation of Undi18 is based on the judgment that new young voters have high political interests and greater political knowledge that lead to the decision to vote. This study aims to measure the impact of media literacy competency on the decision to vote among new young voters and develop the decision to vote model from a media literacy perspective. By using simple random sampling for a quantitative survey among 323 respondents among higher education institutions in Malaysia. This study deploys Structural Equation Modelling for descriptive and inferential analysis apart from model development evaluation. This study found that media literacy competency has significantly influenced the decision to vote among new young voters. The decision to vote model from media literacy theory developed in this study found that analysis and evaluate is a strong predictor towards the decision to vote among new young voters followed by access and act dimensions. Surprisingly, create dimension reported a negative influence towards the decision to vote among new young voters. Young people did not create political updates through their social media account due to socioeconomic, psychological, and social factors that have been discussed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The news media's ability to mobilize citizens to participate politically by emphasizing elite conflict over politics is not well understood. We posit that citizens may gain knowledge when exposed to conflict news framing. We further posit that whether they translate their knowledge into political participation is conditioned by their orientation towards conflict. Consequently, individuals who avoid conflict participate less frequently than individuals who do not. The proposed moderated mediation process was tested using a content analysis of news media coverage and a three-wave panel survey (n=2,061). Generally, results show that the effect of exposure to conflict news framing on (changes in) political participation is positively mediated by knowledge. This mediation effect is further moderated by conflict avoidance, where the effect is more positive among conflict non-avoiders than conflict avoiders. To understand the news media's mobilizing effect on political participation calls for attention to news content and individual motivational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary democracies, a political party typically needs good press to attract voters. A glum scenario for a party would be that news media systematically stigmatize it. To what extent does stigmatization lower its electoral support? This paper addresses this question by examining voters' reactions to the Dutch party PVV being associated with stigmatized other parties. Using a media content analysis linked to a 2014 panel survey of a sample representative of the Dutch electorate, we find that exposure to such indirect stigmatization lowered these voters' perceived legitimacy of the PVV. This, in turn, decreased their propensity to vote for that party. Both effects occurred exclusively among voters who held anti-immigrant attitudes, which are key to voting for the PVV. The finding that stigmatization worked in the case of this well-established party suggests it can be a strong tool in the hands of those who intend to damage a party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the adverse outcomes associated with media exposure to nutrition messages. The study uses data from the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey. The study found conflicting information on the health benefits and risks, such as wine, fish and coffee consumption, on food confusion. It further claims people's confusion to nutrition and health recommendations. It also discusses findings of healthy eating campaigns and interventions.

This study explores the effect of self-message distance on perceived media effect on self and others, and on third-person perception. It tests whether the hypothesized "self-message distance corollary" will perform in a way similar to the "social distance corollary" in predicting perceived media effects and third-person effect. Data were collected from a survey concerning perception and behaviors related to the H1N1 flu news coverage. Local media exposure is found to be a stronger predictor of perceived media effect on self than national media exposure, and perceived effects on self by media messages regarding H1N1 flu differ by message proximity and perceived relevance. But the findings do not support that local media exposure is a negative predictor of third-person effect. The hypothesis that third-person effect based on national media coverage of H1N1 flu is stronger than that based on local media coverage of H1N1 flu is not supported either. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to the methodological discussion of employing Real-Time-Response techniques to assess the processing of televised media content, the first issue to come up is reactivity. It is criticized, that the measure itself alters media experiences leading to non valid data. Because of the cognitive task required for evaluation, the experience might also become more cognitively reflected. This leads to the main research question: To what extent does the employment of RTR measurements alter media experience? Given that the use of RTR-equipment might lead to a more "cognitive" processing style, we proposed an attenuation of the experience. In the experimental design, two groups were tested with the same stimulus. For both groups physiological arousal (EDA) was measured as an indicator of intensity of processing and experiencing of the media content. The experimental group had to perform an RTR-rating task, whereas the control group could watch a TV-show 'undisturbed'. Our leading assumption, that the RTR-task would trigger more cognitive activity and thus attenuate emotional experience didn't hold true as simple as we thought. We found an interesting processual development over time. During the first minutes of exposure, arousal was higher for the RTR-group. Along the viewing process, arousal then continually drops. Regarding the last minutes of viewing, we observed the situation we expected in the first place: arousal was much lower for the RTR- than for the non-RTR-group. These findings can be supported by the concepts of adaption processes while establishing or retrieving a suitable schema for the novel information. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is more than one way to construct content-specific media exposure measures. In this paper, we focused on the following methods: (1) weighting frequency of media use with respondents' own ratings of media content; and (2) weighting frequency of media use with content analysis scores. We then investigated which of the media exposure scores should be used in studying the effects of media exposure on sexual behaviors. To address this issue, we examine which content score has better predictive validity for predicting sexual activities. Our regression analyses demonstrate that among those adolescents who underestimate sexual content compared to coders, neither exposure score is significantly related to sexual activity. Sexual content exposure scores only predicted adolescents' sexual activity for those youth who overestimate the amount of sexual content in media compared to coders. Additionally there is no statistically significant difference between the two exposure scores in their predictive validity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current environmental communication studies mostly focus on examining (1) individual predictors (such as environmental attitudes) to environmental behaviors in (2) Western samples. To date, little has been studied about environmental communication in non-Western cultures. This paper thus attempts to supplement extant environmental communication studies by examining the predictability of the following factors to environmental behavior among 320 adolescents (136 males and 184 females) in Hong Kong: media exposure, social influence, environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, environmental concern and egoistic motive. Media exposure and social influence were found to be the most significant predictors, followed by environmental concern, environmental knowledge and egoistic motive. Practical implications of these results for environmental education and campaigns were conferred at the end of the paper. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collectively shared information is essential for the public discourse in a democracy. Democratic societies need a citizenry that can jointly deliberate about a wide array of issues. Traditional newspapers have shown to improve knowledge about politics and other societal issues and to widen the perceived public agenda. How about their online counterparts? Previous studies that compared online newspapers and Web-based content to print media, predominantly have shown that the print format is more successful when it comes to expanding the horizon of its readers. Traditional printed newspapers typically prestructure their information and essentially guide their readers through the content. It is argued that 'accidental exposure' and consequently 'incidental learning' may explain the success of printed newspapers. The multilayered arrangement of online newspapers on the other hand encourages - even forces - users to pursue their own path and select information that matches their personal interests. Greater media choice encourages selectivity and consequently may lead to more expert knowledge about preferred content only. So far, virtually all studies that compared learning effects of traditional and online newspapers have been experiments. With this study we explore the relation between exposure and awareness of civic topics in a nonexperimental, natural setting. A large survey representative for the Dutch adult population is used to examine how print and online newspapers affect the perceived public agenda in terms of its range and composition. We use multiple regressions and control for exposure to numerous other communication channels, and demographics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underrepresentation of women among physicists around the world, especially in leadership positions, has broad implications for industries and government agencies with a strong need for a technologically educated workforce. The dearth of women physicists in academia exacerbates the situation in that female students lack exposure to successful women in the field. Three years ago, an international group of women met for a round table discussion at the First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics and discussed the importance of having women in leadership positions. They shared their experiences and successes, and drew up and reported a set of recommendations addressing the preparation of women for leadership, the selection process, and the responsibilities of institutions. They acknowledged that implementation of their recommendations would differ among countries. At the Second IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics an international group of women met again to review, revise, and move forward on revamped recommendations from the first conference. This is a report on the new set of revamped recommendations, which address why women should be in leadership positions, goal setting, best practices, commitments, and follow-up actions for the attendees of the second conference. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on a prediction model of geographic variation in social capital in the U.S. The researchers set out to test a claim that heavy television exposure is responsible for wearing down the U.S. social capital and that newspaper use is a mechanism of community connectivity. A proposition that cultural capital is positively associated with social capital has also been tested. This study also examined the possible effect of government intervention on county social capital.

This study investigates the effects of exposure to media depicting negative images of the United States on Koreans' perceptions of Americans and on the anti-Americanism currently rising in Korea. Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate various theoretical arguments. Results revealed that Korean citizens' exposure to negative images of the U.S. in the Korean media was directly linked to Koreans' negative perceptions of the U.S. However, it was also shown that these perceptions were not always directly linked to Koreans' evaluations of issues related to the United States. Thus, it was revealed that exposure to mass media coverage of the U.S. that includes negative imagery of the U.S. and Americans is not always indirectly related to Koreans' anti-Americanism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been a surge in anti-Americanism in Korea. Based on the exemplification and social cognitive theories, this study examines the extent to which exposure to Korean mass media coverage of two concrete exemplars of negative American images - the Olympic speedskating controversy and the U.S. Boeing F-15K issue - affected Koreans' negative perceptions of America. Results revealed that Korean mass media exposure covering of negative American images serves as the basis for evaluating American-coded issues: negative evaluation of the American soccer team's performance in the 2002 Korea and Japan World Cup and positive evaluation of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of family communication on the formation of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors is well-established. The influence of family communication on individual decision-making, related to human genetics research (HGR), however, is long overdue. Family communication about HGR is mixed with numerous media messages about human genetics and genetic testing, which can leave people in a genetic information quandary. A survey (N = 717) was conducted to explore AAs (n = 267) and EA (n = 450) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors associated with human genetics and the interplay of family communication on such issues. The Communication Privacy Management theory provides a conceptual framework to examine relationships between family communication and HGR. Responses indicated significant race differences on familial discussions of medical history and familial encouragement to behave in healthy ways. However, there were no race differences on family conversations about genetic or prenatal testing. In addition, results revealed that media exposure was related to families' discussions about HGR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study (an EU-wide representative survey; n = 7,204) examines how exposure and attention to news stories about the European Union predict knowledge of recent EU affairs, and how exposure and attention interact in predicting such knowledge. Results indicate, after controlling for a variety of important prior variables including general political knowledge, that simple newspaper exposure (but not television news exposure) and attention to EU news not only both predict knowledge about EU affairs independently, but also that the effects of exposure are contingent upon the degree of attention paid to EU-related news stories. The substantive and broader methodological implications for understanding the role of news exposure and attention in studies on learning effects are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study expands third-person effect research to health news coverage by examining the perceptual and behavioral components of third-person effects and the moderator variables of third-person effects-knowledge and exposure to health news. Using data from a survey of 1,107 college students in Taiwan about the coverage of avian flu, findings show that respondents tend to think the influence of avian flu news on others was greater than on themselves. Further, exposure to avian flu news was found to narrow the self-other perceptual gap. Regarding behavioral responses to the third-person perception, the study showed that the perceived effects of avian flu news on self prompted people to look for information about avian flu and to seek the antiviral drug Tamiflu. However, the third-person perception also acted as "a brake" on action. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the link between media consumption and eating disorders has been widely studied, most research has sampled mostly European American (EA) adult or adolescent women, despite evidence that disordered eating is on the rise among African Americans (AA) and preadolescents. A longitudinal panel survey of 315 EA and AA preadolescent boys and girls revealed that television exposure, after controlling for age, perceived body size, selective exposure based on interest in ideal-body television, and time 1 disordered eating, significantly predicted disordered eating one year later for EA and AA girls but not for boys. Findings suggest that disordered eating is no longer just a problem among EA girls. Results also highlight the need for continued investigation into which type of television content (e.g., advertising versus entertainment) is more consequential vis-à-vis preadolescents' eating behaviors. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of my study is to examine the accuracy of survey-based self-reports of news exposure. Previous research has shown that people's self-reports can differ considerably from independent assessments of media use such as newspaper circulation (Price/Zaller 1993). These past research efforts do not go beyond anecdotal evidence, however. My goal is to assess the accuracy of self-reported TV news exposure more systematically. I use Nielsen data as a benchmark to which survey self-reports can be compared. The Annenberg National Election Study (ANES), which was conducted as a rolling cross-section with independent random samples for each day of the year 2000, includes an appropriate question about respondents' exposure to the nightly network news "in the past week." This question was asked in all ANES interviews and can thus be used to calculate weekly survey-based estimates of the network news audience for the entire year. These survey estimates are compared to weekly Nielsen audience estimates. I also compare ANES and Nielsen estimates of debate audiences in 2000. Results show severe over-reporting of news exposure. Survey estimates of network news exposure follow trends in Nielsen ratings relatively well, but exaggerate exposure by a factor of three. To make matters worse, the extent of this bias is not constant across time or individuals. For example, self-reported exposure to debates declines as time passes (but remains higher than Nielsen estimates suggest.) Faulty self-reports emerge not as a result of flawed survey design, but because people simply cannot recall or estimate their own news exposure. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]