Communication Research

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (14)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Eveland, W. P.
Right arrow Articles by Seo, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Communication Research, Vol. 31, No. 1, 82-108 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650203260203

Moving beyond "Just the Facts"

The Influence of Online News on the Content and Structure of Public Affairs Knowledge

William P. Eveland, Jr.

School of Journalism and Communication at The Ohio State University

Krisztina Marton

School of Journalism and Communication and graduate research associate at the Center for Survey Research at The Ohio State University

Mihye Seo

School of Journalism and Communication at The Ohio State University

The increasing use of online news, particularly by young Americans, pointsto the importance of understanding what users learn from this form of news and whether features of online news encourage or discourage various types of learning. This experimental study demonstrates that online news that takes advantage of one of the key characteristics of the Web—the use of in-text hyperlinks—may actually discourage learning of the facts that make up many news stories. But this same linking structure apparently encourages those who commonly use the Web to have more densely interconnected knowledge structures for public affairs topics. However, those who rarely use the Webfor news do not gain such advantages and may even suffer disadvantages. These findings point to limitations in most past online news learning research, which has been limited to "just the facts" in its measurement of learning from the news.

Key Words: schema • expertise • sophistication • WWW • Internet • learning


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
New Media SocietyHome page
C. E. Beaudoin
The internet's impact on international knowledge
New Media Society, June 1, 2008; 10(3): 455 - 474.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Media Culture SocietyHome page
M. Carlson
Order versus access: news search engines and the challenge to traditional journalistic roles
Media Culture Society, November 1, 2007; 29(6): 1014 - 1030.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
The Harvard International Journal of Press/PoliticsHome page
K. E. Dalrymple and D. A. Scheufele
Finally Informing the Electorate? How the Internet Got People Thinking about Presidential Politics in 2004
International Journal of Press/Politics, July 1, 2007; 12(3): 96 - 111.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Communication ResearchHome page
Young Mie Kim
How Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations Interact in Selectivity: Investigating the Moderating Effects of Situational Information Processing Goals in Issue Publics' Web Behavior
Communication Research, April 1, 2007; 34(2): 185 - 211.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Communication ResearchHome page
J. Cho, H. G. de Zuniga, D. V. Shah, and D. M. McLeod
Cue Convergence: Associative Effects on Social Intolerance
Communication Research, June 1, 2006; 33(3): 136 - 154.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
European Journal of CommunicationHome page
K. Schoenbach, E. de Waal, and E. Lauf
Research Note: Online and Print Newspapers: Their Impact on the Extent of the Perceived Public Agenda
European Journal of Communication, June 1, 2005; 20(2): 245 - 258.
[Abstract] [PDF]