Visual Attention and Hostile Media Perception in TikTok War News: An Eye-Tracking Study of Korean and Chinese Viewers

Short-form video platforms are major channels for conflict news, yet how viewers in different national contexts process such content and evaluate its sources remains unclear. This study combined eye tracking with pre- and post-exposure surveys among 124 university students (62 Korean and 62 Chinese) who viewed two native TikTok news posts about the Russia–Ukraine war, one from Korea’s MBN and one from China’s People’s Daily. Gaze was recorded at 60 Hz using a Tobii Pro Nano, with dynamic areas of interest defined for military imagery, people, and subtitles. Source-directed HMP, based on perceived ideological distance and source credibility, was assessed before and after exposure. Korean participants fixated longer on military imagery in both clips (d = 1.27 and 1.11), whereas Chinese participants attended longer to people in the Korean clip (d = −0.48). Subtitle-attention differences showed opposite directions across the two clips, with each group looking longer at subtitles in the clip produced in the other country. Baseline source-directed HMP was higher for the Korean outlet in both groups and was highest among Chinese participants. Across the fixed-order viewing session, HMP increased among Korean participants toward both outlets, whereas Chinese participants showed little change. Separately, among Korean participants, longer attention to people in the Chinese clip was associated with lower post-session HMP toward that outlet. These findings document cross-national differences in visual attention and associations between attention and source evaluation within two specific short-form conflict-news videos.