The Influence of Conflict News on Audience Digital Engagement.

In a competitive digital environment, news outlets employ attention-gaining strategies, including the portrayal of conflict. Yet such coverage may backfire. Using an experiment comparing exposure to disagreeable or uncivil conflict news, we examine how articles with different types of conflict relate to intended news engagement through the mediating variables of perceived incivility, news source credibility, and/or surveillance emotions and test the moderating effects of conflict avoidance. We find that in textual, digital settings, uncivil conflict news is high risk and low reward: perceived incivility can increase engagement through surveillance emotions but also can decrease engagement directly and through decreased news credibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]