6 research outputs found
Selective Exposure to Berita Harian Online and Utusan Malaysia Online: The Roles of Surveillance Motivation, Website Usability and Website Attractiveness
News media allows audiences to be selective in determining both their news sources
and type of news stories they read. This study examined factors influencing selective
exposure to the online editions of two mainstream Malaysian newspapers, Berita
Harian and Utusan Malaysia. Using selective exposure theory as the theoretical
lens, this study compared both newspapers in terms of their audiences’ level of
surveillance motivation, and how audiences rate the newspapers’ websites with respect
to usability and attractiveness. This study used a within-subject experimental research
design that exposed 51 subjects to both Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia online
newspapers. The results of the experiment indicate that Berita Harian and Utusan
Malaysia online were significantly different in terms of website usability; however,
no significant differences were found in terms of surveillance motivation or website
attractiveness between the two newspapers. Further analysis indicate that the only
significant predictor of selective exposure was website usability. This study highlights
the importance of website usability for online newspapers wanting to harness audience
selectivity
A Spiral of Silence for Some: Attitude Certainty and the Expression of Political Minority Opinions
Spiral of silence theory does not assume a simple relationship between opinion climate and opinion expression. In fact, the notion of hardcore individuals (who express their opinions regardless of the climate) embraces the idea that there are some people for whom this relationship does not hold true. However, this idea has not been put to a direct empirical test. In this article, the authors propose that attitude certainty is a key variable in identifying the hardcore. Data from three surveys demonstrate that the climate of opinion only determines opinion expression when individuals hold their attitudes with low or moderate attitude certainty. For individuals with high attitude certainty, no such effect can be found. Thus, there is a spiral of silence only for some but not for all members of the public