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Purpose This study aims to investigate how news-finds-me (NFM) perception translates into affective polarization through subjective evaluative appraisal of news and subsequent figure-focused political talk rather than through cognitive elaborative processing about specific issues. Design/methodology/approach Using data from a two-wave online survey collected in South Korea in 2023 (N = 1,058 at Wave 1, N = 659 at Wave 2), we investigate both the direct and indirect effects of the NFM perception on affective polarization toward political figures via news evaluation and political figure-focused talk. Findings Individuals who perceive that they are often exposed to news and information are more likely to subjectively evaluate news and talk about political figures. More importantly, they are more likely to have polarized attitudes toward political figures because of these processes, which suggests that these processes are subjective reasoning behaviors that bolster the self-evaluation of political figures. Originality/value This study focuses on subjective news evaluation—an evaluative appraisal of news effectiveness, objectivity, and bias—as the key psychological mechanism that connects NFM perception to subsequent political expression. By examining news evaluation and political figure-focused talk, this study reveals how subjective reasoning mechanisms shape polarized political attitudes.
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.