Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Current research suggests that today’s generation, those between eighteen and twenty-four years old, may rely heavily on social media for everyday news information. To investigate further the news information-seeking behaviour of the Millennials, we surveyed 22,900 undergraduate students in a tier-one university on their use of news resources and access tools, their perceptions of credibility of resources, and factors determining credibility. The email survey in October 2017 yielded 3565 usable questionnaires (response rate 15.6%; Cronbach’s alpha ranging between 0.884 and 0.992). Data analyses, whilst supporting some of the findings of previous research, show that many Millennials rely on their family and friends as viable news resources. Following Warde’s theory on time (Boterill et al, 2015), our study suggests that time as manifested through convenience may be considered an important factor in deciding on news resources despite potential lack of credibility. Additionally, and in line with previous research (Shearer & Gottfried, 2017), we also detected a major gender effect for news resources and access tools used. However, our analysis also shows gender effect on perceptions of credibility of news resources, and factors determining credibility of resources. Future research on news information-seeking behaviour should focus on the convenience factor, and on the reasons underlying the gender effect.