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The NBA's (National Basketball Association's) racial justice initiatives during the 2020 Playoff Bubble are considered an act of corporate social advocacy and provide an exemplary scenario to explore this intersection of sport and politics. Based on this observation, the purpose of this study was to explore how one's level of identification with the NBA and his/her identification with a political party can impact one's perception of the NBA's racial justice initiatives. Specifically, the researchers wanted to determine if outrage toward the NBA and one's perception of the NBA's reputation is influenced more by one's political identity or one's fanship for the league. A survey was conducted using a national convenience sample of 518 participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results showed that while both fanship and political identity had effects on one's outrage toward the NBA and one's perceived reputation of the NBA, the stronger factor differed between Democrats and Republicans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political communication researchers commonly use one of two strategies to measure online network diversity: a "subjective" approach tapping participants' impressions of the diversity in their networks, or a "structural" approach that asks about the socioeconomic position of individuals within their networks. While these measures are largely treated as functional equivalents in research about information technology and politics, we demonstrate that the two measures are only moderately correlated, and there are systematic differences in the reliability and validity of the two measures. We conclude that the structural measure is the better choice for most studies, although the subjective measure may be more appropriate in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some people live in social media "news deserts," while others are embedded in online networks that are rich in news content. These news deserts represent a new form of digital inequality—distinct from problems of access, resources, or civic skills—that could foreclose one of the ways social media are believed to contribute to informing citizens and engaging them in democratic processes: providing opportunities for incidental news exposure. This study investigates incidental exposure on social media platforms, drawing on an online survey administered just before the 2018 US Midterm Elections (N = 1493). The study finds that even after controlling for key individual-level factors, characteristics of social media discussion networks play a role in explaining variation in incidental exposure. The results are discussed in light of prevailing theory about incidental exposure, public engagement, and digital inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From time to time, some social media users avoid content posted by specific people in their networks. Most research on such selective avoidance has focused on individual motivations and other psychological factors rather than on social network characteristics, and there is a need for a systematic analysis of the relationships between individuals' social media networks and selective avoidance. This study fills that gap in the literature, drawing on theory about egocentric or personal publics. We test our predictions using data from three surveys of adults in the United States, collected just before each of the last three major national elections. Results are discussed in light of theory about the role of media technology in shaping political communication and scholarly discourse about how selective avoidance affects information flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The communication mediation model asserts that the effects of news use on political participation are mostly indirect, mediated through discussion. Recent research has shown that this mediation process is stronger in countries where freedom of the press and expression are also greater. Relying on data collected during election cycles in seventeen countries between 2013 and 2018, we examine how additional country-level factors, including political freedom and digital infrastructure, moderate the indirect relationship between news use and political participation via political talk. Results provide evidence that these factors condition both outcomes, but in different ways. For protest, two of three country-level indices moderate individual-level variation in the pathway between political talk and protest. For voting, two of three country-level indices moderate aggregate-level variation in the pathway between news use and political talk. Results are discussed in light of their implications for the communication mediation model and comparative political communication research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting public knowledge about climate is important for garnering support for climate-change policy, and researchers have begun to study the effectiveness of new technologies as learning tools. News organizations are increasingly producing immersive journalism, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and this study tests whether VR news can be an effective tool for learning about climate change. Based on results from a controlled, in-person laboratory experiment comparing an immersive VR news story to 360°-video and text-with-images versions, we find no main effects on the learning outcomes. However, we do find indirect effects on cognitive elaboration, which are conditional on preexisting knowledge about climate change. Results are discussed in light of their implications for theory about learning in multimedia environments, as well as their implications for the science of science communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role that group consciousness plays in driving corrective action. Drawing from an online survey of Latinos in the United States (N = 588), it tests the relationships among group consciousness, perceived media bias, proattitudinal selective exposure, and political participation. Results show support for a serial mediation model where the relationship between group consciousness and political participation runs through perceptions of media bias and proattitudinal selective exposure. Proattitudinal selective exposure also mediates the relationship between group consciousness and political participation independently. Theoretical contributions to corrective action and the role of minority groups in American politics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrective action hypothesis predicts that people will take political action in response to media content they perceive to be biased against them, and evidence has accumulated in favor of it. However, research has not yet investigated the hypothesis in comparative context. This study fills that gap in the literature, relying on the Comparative National Election Project (N  = 23,527), and analyzing data from 17 countries. Results show evidence of an overall positive relationship between perceived media bias and political action, and they also show evidence that this relationship varies in strength between countries. Moreover, press freedom partially explains this variation. Results are discussed in light of the theory of corrective action and recent trends in political participation worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the surface, it seems that journalists are more publicly accessible than ever before, largely thanks to the popular microblogging website/ app, Twitter. But determining who is interacting with journalists on Twitter is important in order to understand who benefits from these interactions. We argue that social capital provides a useful framework for understanding this phenomenon because it sheds light on the ways in which journalists are embedded in structures of formal and informal social connection, and it highlights social inclusion and exclusion in these processes. Relying on a two-wave, online survey collected before and after the 2018 Midterm Elections, we examine the relationship between social capital and interactions with journalists on Twitter. Results show that people with higher levels of social capital are more likely to interact with journalists, which can be interpreted as a form of social exclusion. Results are discussed in light of the role of journalism in fostering social connectivity and civic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the individuals who are most likely to perceive media bias no longer encounter, via selective exposure, media content they might consider biased, why are perceptions of media bias so pervasive? We argue that many people who engage in politically motivated selective exposure also perceive "the media" in general to be biased. Relying on a survey of adults in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, which has witnessed particularly contentious and divisive political events since 2011, this study examines self-reported patterns of selective exposure to partisan media while accounting for the role of the local communication ecology in encouraging or discouraging partisan media selectivity. It also tests the idea that selective exposure is related to a generalized perception of media bias—the idea that "the media" in general are biased while self-selected media are not. Finally, the study tests a moderated mediation model showing the structure of relationships among political opinion extremity, selective exposure, and perceived media bias. Results suggest (a) a positive relationship between political opinion extremity and selective exposure, (b) opposite patterns of relationships between selective exposure and perceived media bias about self-selected and general media, respectively, and (c) evidence of moderated mediation among political opinion extremity, selective exposure, and perceived media bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by the reinforcing spirals model, this study examines whether exposure to cable news is associated with policy preferences, particularly those aimed at immigrants and refugees. Analyses of two sets of survey data (N = 200, N = 4,271) show that, after controlling for demographics, other news use, and political ideology, consuming Fox News has a unique relationship with Americans' policy preferences. Respondents who reported consuming Fox News (online or on TV) preferred stricter policies aimed at immigrants and refugees; however, use of MSNBC and CNN was not related to these policy preferences. A content analysis revealed that FoxNews.com published far fewer stories (N = 123) about immigrants and refugees in the time periods immediately preceding the surveys than did CNN.com (N = 211). However, these FoxNews.com stories provided a different contextualization by emphasizing authority and subversion and deemphasizing care. These findings suggest that Fox News is creating/reinforcing its consumers' migrationrelated policy preferences, whereas no such relationship exists for MSNBC and CNN consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]