Theorizing News Literacy Behaviors

TLDR

Despite renewed interest in news literacy as a tool against misinformation, scholarship lacks robust theory and clear conceptualization of NL and its application. The study proposes a concise definition of news literacy, identifies five key knowledge and skill domains, adapts the Theory of Planned Behavior to include NL, and outlines a research agenda to unify scholars. The authors define NL, differentiate it from related behaviors such as news exposure and verification, adapt the Theory of Planned Behavior to incorporate NL, and propose a research agenda.

Abstract

Abstract Despite renewed interest in news literacy (NL) as a way to combat mis- and dis-information, existing scholarship is plagued by insufficient theory building and inadequate conceptualization of both “NL” and its application. We address this concern by offering a concise definition of NL and suggest five key knowledge and skill domains that comprise this literacy. We distinguish NL from its application to behaviors that communication scholars have been interested in, including news exposure, verification, and identifying misinformation. We propose an adapted Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to include NL in addition to the existing components (attitudes towards the behavior, social norms, perceived behavioral control) when modeling NL Behaviors. We discuss how this model can unite scholars across subfields and propose a research agenda for moving scholarship forward.