Dr. Dam Hee Kim, Joshua von Herrmann, and Dr. Seungahn Nah researched the potential of news portals as influencers on civic engagement, specifically regarding community engagement and public affairs.
A national survey of 1,294 Korean adults was conducted from April 4–9, 2019. News portals were classified in two different ways:
1.) Active news portals that include activities to facilitate further communication/interaction like commenting and sharing information.
2.) Passive news portals that only include receiving information.
Key findings include:
1.) Active news portals are much better than passive news portals at positively predicting civic engagement via online discussion.
2.) The positive relationship between active news portal use and civic engagement indicators strengthens with increased news portal credibility.
3.) Online community discussion positively predicts neighborhood belonging, collective efficacy (belief in whether the community can act cooperatively to accomplish tasks), offline civic participation, and online civic participation.
4.) After active use of news portals for information about community issues and public affairs, individuals tend to start conversations with other on various online platforms.
Learn more about how active news portals can increase civic engagement both online and offline
