Exposure, Attention, or “Use” of News? Assessing Aspects of the Reliability and Validity of a Central Concept in Political Communication Research

The concept of news media use 1 1Although others have used the broader term “media orientations” (McLeod & McDonald, 1985 McLeod, J. M. and McDonald, D. 1985. Beyond simple exposure: Media orientations and their impact on political processes. Communication Research, 12: 3–33. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), we employ the term “use” as a superordinate label that can subsume exposure, attention, or some combination of the two. More than 20 studies since 2004 have employed this term in their titles or abstracts alone, and it seems to us a useful shorthand for both the behavioral (exposure) and cognitive (attention) components of experiencing news. Matthew Barnidge is a Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Communication, University of Vienna. has been at the center of political communication research during the past several decades. Historically, scholars have employed measures of exposure to news (Atkin, Galloway, & Nayman, 1976 Atkin, C. K., Galloway, J. and Nayman, O. B. 1976. News media exposure, political knowledge and campaign interest. Journalism Quarterly, 53: 231–237. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), attention to news (Chaffee & Schleuder, 1986 Chaffee, S. H. and Schleuder, J. 1986. Measurement and effects of attention to media news. Human Communication Research, 13: 76–107. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; McLeod & McDonald, 1985 McLeod, J. M. and McDonald, D. 1985. Beyond simple exposure: Media orientations and their impact on political processes. Communication Research, 12: 3–33. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and reliance on news (Culbertson & Stempel, 1986 Culbertson, H. M. and Stempel, G. H. I II. 1986. How media use and reliance affect knowledge level. Communication Research, 13: 579–602. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to tap this concept. Moreover, they have been interested in determining the influence of the use of news on various political outcomes, including political knowledge, political participation, and public opinion. Despite a massive accumulation of literature on these topics, what is missing is a consistent and validated survey measure of news use (Chaffee, 2001 Chaffee, S. 2001. Studying the new communication of politics. Political Communication, 18: 237–244. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Given the centrality of this concept and its measurement to the field, it seems appropriate that efforts to better understand the implication of various conceptualizations and measurement approaches be undertaken. Some research on this topic, with an exclusive emphasis on exposure measures, has appeared in recent years (e.g., Althaus & Tewksbury, 2007 Althaus, S. L. and Tewksbury, D. H. 2007. Toward a new generation of media use measures for the ANES., Report to the Board of Overseers, American National Election Study [Google Scholar]; Chang & Krosnick, 2003 Chang, L. C. and Krosnick, J. A. 2003. Measuring the frequency of regular behaviors: Comparing the “typical week” to the “past week.”. Sociological Methodology, 33: 55–80. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), but more is needed, particularly given the heavy use of both exposure and attention measures in the extant literature. In this study, we focus on the internal consistency, dimensional structure, and some aspects of validity of measures of frequency of exposure and attention to various news media sources as predictors of political knowledge. We also address analysis issues that follow from the measurement issues. Following prior research (e.g., Price & Zaller, 1993 Price, V. and Zaller, J. 1993. Who gets the news? Alternative measures of news reception and their implications for research. Public Opinion Quarterly, 57: 133–164. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), we focus on political knowledge as an important validity criterion, although we certainly acknowledge that other criteria, such as political participation, may be equally important.