Guided by motivated reasoning theory, this study examines how news literacy impacts individuals’ news-finds-me (NFM) perception in the social media environment through a dual-process: identity-motivated skepticism and accuracy-motivated skepticism. Using a structural equation modeling approach with representative samples from the United States, this study’s results revealed that news literacy affected the NFM perception through two distinct skepticism pathways. The findings of this study advance understanding of how news literacy operates through two underlying mechanisms to shape individuals’ NFM perception in an algorithm-based news environment, offering theoretical and practical implications.
AhmedS. (2023). Navigating the maze: Deepfakes, cognitive ability, and social media news skepticism. New Media & Society, 25(5), 1108–1129.
2.
AlamA.ChoN.Kyun SooK. (2018). The role of news media literacy in predicting news personalization and news engagement. Ewha Journal of Social Sciences, 34(1), 73–109.
3.
AshleyS.PoepselM.WillisE. (2010). Media literacy and news credibility: Does knowledge of media ownership increase skepticism in news consumers?Journal of Media Literacy Education, 2(1), 37–46.
4.
BarnidgeM.XenosM. A. (2024). Social media news deserts: Digital inequalities and incidental news exposure on social media platforms. New Media & Society, 26(1), 368–388.
5.
BodeL.VragaE. K. (2018). See something, say something: Correction of global health misinformation on social media. Health Communication, 33(9), 1131–1140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1331312
6.
BorahP.LorenzanoK. J. (2024). Who corrects misinformation online? Self-perceived media literacy and the moderating role of reflective judgment. Online Information Review, 48(4), 661–675.
7.
BoyerM. M.LechelerS.AalderingL. (2024). Don’t throw the frame out with the bathwater: How episodic news frames can prevent identity-motivated reasoning. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 101(4), 933–954. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990221097057
8.
BullockJ. G. (2011). Elite influence on public opinion in an informed electorate. American Political Science Review, 105(3), 496–515.
9.
ChaikenS.LedgerwoodA. (2012). A theory of heuristic and systematic information processing. In Van LangeP. A. M.KruglanskiA. W.HigginsE.T. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (pp. 246–266). Sage.
10.
ChanM. (2024). News literacy, fake news recognition, and authentication behaviors after exposure to fake news on social media. New Media & Society, 26(8), 4669–4688. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221127675
11.
ChanM.LeeF. L. F.ChenH.-T. (2021). Examining the roles of multi-platform social media news use, engagement, and connections with news organizations and journalists on news literacy: A comparison of seven democracies. Digital Journalism, 9(5), 571–588. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1890168
12.
ChanM.VaccariC.YamamotoM. (2024). Examining the relationship between dispositional news literacy and discernment of real and misleading news: Cross-national evidence. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 36(2), edae020.
CheungG. W.Cooper-ThomasH. D.LauR. S.WangL. C. (2024). Reporting reliability, convergent and discriminant validity with structural equation modeling: A review and best-practice recommendations. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 41(2), 745–783.
15.
CraftS.AshleyS.MakslA. (2017). News media literacy and conspiracy theory endorsement. Communication and the Public, 2(4), 388–401.
16.
DanceyL.SheagleyG. (2013). Heuristics behaving badly: Party cues and voter knowledge. American Journal of Political Science, 57(2), 312–325.
17.
DavidsoneA.SilkaneV.BucholtzI. (2025). Measuring adults’ media literacy skills and news media literacy knowledge in the context of age, gender, and education level. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 17(1), 75–88.
18.
DengR.AhmedS. (2025). Between trust and skepticism: Unpacking the impact of social media skepticism on online political participation. Behaviour & Information Technology, 44(19), 4765–4779. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2025.2488906
19.
DeVitoM. A. (2017). From editors to algorithms: A values-based approach to understanding story selection in the Facebook news feed. Digital Journalism, 5(6), 753–773. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1178592
20.
EdgerlyS. (2022). The head and heart of news avoidance: How attitudes about the news media relate to levels of news consumption. Journalism, 23(9), 1828–1845.
21.
FletcherR.NielsenR. K. (2018). Are people incidentally exposed to news on social media? A comparative analysis. New Media & Society, 20(7), 2450–2468.
22.
FlynnD. J.NyhanB.ReiflerJ. (2017). The nature and origins of misperceptions: Understanding false and unsupported beliefs about politics. Political Psychology, 38, 127–150.
23.
GagrčinE.NaabT. K.GrubM. F. (2026). Algorithmic media use and algorithm literacy: An integrative literature review. New Media & Society, 28(1), 423–447.
24.
Gil de ZúñigaH.ChengZ.González-GonzálezP. (2022). Effects of the news finds me perception on algorithmic news attitudes and social media political homophily. Journal of Communication, 72(5), 578–591. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqac025
25.
Gil de ZúñigaH.DiehlT. (2019). News finds me perception and democracy: Effects on political knowledge, political interest, and voting. New Media & Society, 21(6), 1253–1271.
26.
Gil de ZúñigaH.WeeksB.Ardèvol-AbreuA. (2017). Effects of the news-finds-me perception in communication: Social media use implications for news seeking and learning about politics. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 22(3), 105–123.
27.
GoyanesM.Ardèvol-AbreuA.Gil de ZúñigaH. (2023). Antecedents of news avoidance: Competing effects of political interest, news overload, trust in news media, and “news finds me” perception. Digital Journalism, 11(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.199009
28.
HawkinsI.CampbellS. W. (2025). (Fake) news-finds-me: Interactive social and mobile media uses and incidental news reliance as antecedents of fake news-sharing. Computers in Human Behavior, 168, 108658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108658
29.
HenselerJ.RingleC. M.SarstedtM. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135.
30.
JakobsI.PohleH.KlawierT.ProchazkaF.FawziN.SteindlN.ArltD.DohleM.EngelkeK. M.JackobN.ObermaierM.SchweigerW.ZiegeleM. (2026). Adolescents’ trust in news media: A typology of (un) reflected trust and the role of socialization. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990261425240
31.
Jones-JangS. M.MortensenT.LiuJ. (2021). Does media literacy help identification of fake news? Information literacy helps, but other literacies don’t. American Behavioral Scientist, 65(2), 371–388.
32.
KietzmannJ.MillsA. J.PlanggerK. (2021). Deepfakes: Perspectives on the future “reality” of advertising and branding. International Journal of Advertising, 40(3), 473–485.
33.
KlineR. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). Guilford Press.
34.
KuK. Y. L.KongQ.SongY.DengL.KangY.HuA. (2019). What predicts adolescents’ critical thinking about real-life news? The roles of social media news consumption and news media literacy. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 33, 100570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2019.05.004
35.
KundaZ. (1990). The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 480.
36.
LeeS. (2020). Probing the mechanisms through which social media erodes political knowledge: The role of the news-finds-me perception. Mass Communication and Society, 23(6), 810–832. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2020.1821381
37.
LeeT.JohnsonT.JiaC.Lacasa-MasI. (2025). How social media users become misinformed: The roles of news-finds-me perception and misinformation exposure in COVID-19 misperception. New Media & Society, 27(3), 1730–1751.
38.
LiJ. (2025). Not all skepticism is “healthy” skepticism: Theorizing accuracy-and identity-motivated skepticism toward social media misinformation. New Media & Society, 27(1), 522–544.
39.
LinY.ChenM.LeeS. Y.YiS. H.ChenY.TandocE. C.GohZ. H.SalmonC. T. (2024). Understanding the effects of news-finds-me perception on health knowledge and information seeking during public health crises. Health Communication, 39(2), 352–362.
40.
MakslA.AshleyS.CraftS. (2015). Measuring news media literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 6(3), 29–45.
41.
MakslA.BoedekerP. J.VragaE. K.CraftS.TullyM.AshleyS. (2024). Developing and validating a 15-item true/false measure of news literacy knowledge. Communication Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241284406
42.
NelsonJ. L.LewisS. C. (2023). Only “sheep” trust journalists? How citizens’ self-perceptions shape their approach to news. New Media & Society, 25(7), 1522–1541.
43.
NirL. (2011). Motivated reasoning and public opinion perception. Public Opinion Quarterly, 75(3), 504–532.
44.
ParkC. S.KayeB. K. (2020). What’s this? Incidental exposure to news on social media, news-finds-me perception, news efficacy, and news consumption. Mass Communication & Society, 23(2), 157–180.
45.
SkurkaC.LiaoM.Gil de ZúñigaH. (2023). Tuning out (political and science) news? A selective exposure study of the news finds me perception. Communication Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231215528
46.
SongH.de ZúñigaH. G.BoomgaardenH. G. (2021). Social media news use and political cynicism: Differential pathways through “news finds me” perception. Mass Communication and Society, 23(1), 47–70.
47.
StraußN.HuberB.Gil de ZúñigaH. (2021). Structural influences on the news finds me perception: Why people believe they don’t have to actively seek news anymore. Social Media + Society, 7(2), 20563051211024966. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211024966
48.
SuY.BorahP.XiaoX. (2022). Understanding the “infodemic”: Social media news use, homogeneous online discussion, self-perceived media literacy and misperceptions about COVID-19. Online Information Review, 46(7), 1468–1527. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0305
49.
SwartJ. (2021). Experiencing algorithms: How young people understand, feel about, and engage with algorithmic news selection on social media. Social Media + Society, 7(2), 20563051211008828. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211008828
50.
SwartJ. (2023). Tactics of news literacy: How young people access, evaluate, and engage with news on social media. New Media & Society, 25(3), 505–521. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211011447
51.
TaberC. S.LodgeM. (2006). Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 755–769.
52.
TamboerS. L.KleemansM.DaalmansS. (2022). ‘We are a neeeew generation’: Early adolescents’ views on news and news literacy. Journalism, 23(4), 806–822. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920924527
53.
TianY.WillnatL. (2025). From news disengagement to fake news engagement: Examining the role of news-finds-me perceptions in vulnerability to fake news through third-person perception. Computers in Human Behavior, 162, 108431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108431
54.
TullyM.MakslA.AshleyS.CraftS. (2022). Defining and conceptualizing news literacy. Journalism, 23(8), 1589–1606.
55.
TullyM.VragaE. K. (2018). A mixed methods approach to examining the relationship between news media literacy and political efficacy. International Journal of Communication, 12, 766–787.
56.
TurnerJ. C.OakesP. J.HaslamS. A.McGartyC. (1994). Self and collective: Cognition and social context. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(5), 454–463.
VaccariC.ChadwickA. (2020). Deepfakes and disinformation: Exploring the impact of synthetic political video on deception, uncertainty, and trust in news. Social Media + Society, 6(1), 2056305120903408.
59.
Van Der MeerT. G.HameleersM. (2021). Fighting biased news diets: Using news media literacy interventions to stimulate online cross-cutting media exposure patterns. New Media & Society, 23(11), 3156–3178.
60.
Van Der MeerT. G.HameleersM. (2022). I knew it, the world is falling apart! Combatting a confirmatory negativity bias in audiences’ news selection through news media literacy interventions. Digital Journalism, 10(3), 473–492.
61.
VragaE. K.TullyM.KotcherJ. E.SmithsonA. B.Broeckelman-PostM. (2015). A multi-dimensional approach to measuring news media literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 7(3), 41–53.
62.
VragaE. K.TullyM. (2019). News literacy, social media behaviors, and skepticism toward information on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(2), 150–166.
WeiL.GongJ.XuJ.Eeza Zainal AbidinN.Destiny ApukeO. (2023). Do social media literacy skills help in combating fake news spread? Modelling the moderating role of social media literacy skills in the relationship between rational choice factors and fake news sharing behaviour. Telematics and Informatics, 76, 101910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2022.101910
65.
XiaoY.YangW.Y. (2023). There’s more to news media skepticism: A path analysis examining news media literacy, news media skepticism and misinformation behaviors. Online Information Review, 48(3), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIP-04-2023-0172
66.
XiongY. (2025). The mediating effects of counter-attitudinal exposure, political knowledge, and trust in government on community connectedness. Social Science Quarterly, 106(3), e70020.
67.
YooJ. J.JohnsonT. J.Lacasa-MasI. (2024). The dynamics of misinformation sharing: The mediated role of news-finds-me perception and the moderated role of partisan social identity. Mass Communication and Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2024.2401842
