“I Know News Will Find Me”: Examining the Relationship Between the “News-Finds-Me” Perception and COVID-19 Misperceptions

In the current media environment, some individuals have shifted from actively monitoring news toward passively waiting for the media to alert them about news to a certain extent, forming a "news-finds-me" (NFM) perception. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey (N = 906) of adults from the United States, this study investigates the relationship between the NFM perception and COVID-19 misperceptions. Findings demonstrated a positive association between NFM perception and misperceptions. Moreover, information avoidance mediated the relationship between NFM and misperception. Finally, need for cognition (NFC) was a significant moderator, such that among those with greater NFC, the indirect effect of NFM perception on misperceptions became weaker. Findings of this study can contribute to the literature of NFM perception in health contexts and provide useful guidelines for combating misinformation and misperceptions in the algorithm-generated information environment.