ublic’s Health Information Consumption During a Prolonged Pandemic: The Competing Roles of Journalists and Digital Influencers and Their Effects in Combating Message Fatigue

Chiara Valentini, Elanor Colleoni, Yan Jin and Sung In Choi (PhD candidate) (2023, May). “Public’s Health Information Consumption During a Prolonged Pandemic: The Competing Roles of Journalists and Digital Influencers and Their Effects in Combating Message Fatigue.” Journalism Division, International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada.

Abstract: This study empirically investigates COVID-19 information consumption behaviors of individuals who show pandemic fatigue indications. Particularly, this study examines the relation between the type of information source—journalist versus digital influencer—, how people feel about the pandemic, how they cognitively cope with the information they receive, and in their overall message fatigue. Data collection took place in spring 2022 through a market research company on a representative sample of the population in Australia, Finland, Italy, Sweden, South Korea, and the United States of America. The sample comprises over 3000 respondents stratified by age, gender, education, and house income. Results show that consuming more journalists’ information helps people reduce cognitive coping and subsequent message fatigue, if individuals think those messages are highly credible. On the other hand, consuming more digital influencers’ information increases cognitive coping behavior and message fatigue. This study contributes to expand our understanding of the role of journalists vis-à-vis that of digital influencers during a global pandemic.