News Engagement Process Model: Theorization of Audience and Journalist Interactions

Journalism scholars are increasingly studying news engagement as a topic and employing it as a conceptual lens with an underlying assumption that news engagement leads to positive outcomes for news organizations. However, the construct’s boundaries and the related practices representing it require further organization if researchers seek to test the validity of these assumptions. Based on the mapping of engagement literature across fields, we present a process model of news engagement that includes multiple engagement concepts. News engagement is a process initiated by journalists through which audiences interact with journalists, news content, and other audience members. We propose a news engagement model that comprises three core concepts: (a) journalists’ behavioral engagement, (b) audiences’ psychological engagement, and (c) audiences’ behavioral engagement. The news engagement model conceptualizes news engagement as an ongoing, reciprocal exchange between journalists and audiences. In this theoretical essay, our intent with the model is to offer a framework for both identifying and testing how journalists’ engagement behaviors influence audience engagement and vice versa.