The PFAD-HEC Model: Impacts of News Attributes and Use Motivations on Selective News Exposure

This study examined effects of four common news attributes—personalization, fragmentation, authority–disorder bias, and dramatization (PFAD)—on news exposure and the moderating impacts of hedonic, epistemic, and civic news use motivations. In a lab experiment, participants browsed online news while selective exposure was unobtrusively logged. Findings yielded longer exposure to personalized and dramatized articles and news with low authority–disorder bias. Fragmentation had no significant impact. However, selective exposure to fragmented news was influenced by participants’ political understanding (epistemic motivation), exposure to personalization by news enjoyment (hedonic motivation), and exposure to authority–disorder bias by civic duty to keep informed (civic motivation). Results suggest that news styles may need to become more diversified to better address the informational needs of today’s fragmented audiences.