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Social media have opened up new possibilities for news engagement, and one of the important possibilities is news curation, which is defined as the reconstructing, reformulating, repurposing, refra...

This study of media use during the 2012 presidential election examines whether online use, partisanship, and perceptions of media bias predict time spent with traditionally delivered media. Traditional media lost ground to online sources. Moreover, Obama supporters spent more time with liberal media, Romney backers with conservative media, and regardless of support, attention to neutral media increased. Respondents who thought the media were biased against Obama spent less time with conservative media and more with liberal ones and neutral CNN, while those who judged the media as hostile to Romney spent little time with liberal and neutral media.

This study extends the Gamson Hypothesis, which asserts that trust and self-efficacy affect political activity, by examining how reliance on mainstream and alternative sources of political information interact with trust, self-efficacy, and political activity. Overall, this study supports the Gamson Hypothesis: Dissidents (those high in self-efficacy and low in political trust) are more likely to protest the government than Assureds (high levels of trust and efficacy), who are more likely to engage in more conventional political activities. Dissidents avoid online newspapers and broadcast news sites and instead turn to more polarizing sources, such as radio talk shows and political blogs. On the other hand, Assureds rely on mainstream sources such as broadcast television online and avoid more partisan sources such as political Web sites and talk radio.

This investigation of offensive language on prime-time broadcast and cable programs found that 9 out of 10 programs contained at least one incident of profanity, and viewers were exposed to 12.58 cuss words per hour in 2005. Viewers of broadcast programs were exposed to slightly less than 10 objectionable words per-hour compared to 15 words-per-hour on cable programs.

This study examines offensive language spoken in prime time on 7 broadcast networks in 2001. Profanity increased between 1997 and 2001 to a rate of word every 8 minutes. FOX network programs contained more crudities than all other networks; UPN had the highest rate of such words per hour. Mild words such as "hell" and "damn" dominated, but the "seven dirty words" were heard once every 3 hours. Programs labeled TVPG aired more dirty words than those labeled TV14. Shows with an "L" rating and programs without a content rating contained more vulgarities than other content-rated shows.

The uses and gratifications approach is well suited for studying the World Wide Web as a whole and for examining specific types of sites within the Web. This study, therefore, examines the uses and gratifications of accessing online sources for political information. A factor analysis revealed 4 primary motivations for connecting to online political information: guidance information-seeking surveillance, entertainment, and social utility. Additionally, significant correlations emerged between the 4 motivations and amount of use, trust in government, feelings of efficacy, interest in politics, and the likelihood of voting.

The present study examined one week of prime time programs aired on the ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox networks in 1990, 1994, and 1997 to ascertain whether usage of offensive language has increased from 1990 to 1997 when a content-based rating system was implemented. The per-hour rate of objectionable words increased between 1990 and 1994 but decreased in 1997 to a level slightly below that found in 1990. Although the FCC deems the "seven dirty words" as too offensive for television, five of these words have made their way onto the prime time airwaves.

This study electronically‐monitored in‐home RCD activity. The frequency of channel changing and other RCD behaviors were recorded and discrepancies between self‐reported and actual RCD use are examined. This is one of a few academic studies of RCDs that does not rely on a survey (respondent recall) or on observation, but rather records actual behaviors in the participants’ home. This study also examines viewers’ uses of RCDs within the framework of selective exposure. Slightly over 374 hours of television viewing by 44 participants yielded 13,680 channel switches. It was found that viewers made an average of 36.6 channel changes per hour. In other words, they watched channels for an average of one minute and 38 seconds between switches. Further analyses revealed an audience of “rapid‐fire”; channel grazers as 80% of the switches took place after a channel was on for less than five seconds.