News finds me perception and climate change behaviors: Inconsistent associations through climate change-related knowledge

Abstract Increasing citizens’ understanding of the climate crisis, its origins, and potential mitigation strategies is essential for promoting climate protection behaviors and generating support and demand for broader political measures. Yet, many people misunderstand climate change (CC), hold false beliefs about its causes and solutions, or even deny its existence. While the media can raise awareness and incentivize action, barriers like misconceptions about how to stay informed in today’s information environment limit this potential. Using survey data from 1,299 residents in Spain, we examine how the belief that staying informed does not require active effort—the “news finds me” (NFM) perception—predicts these dynamics. Our results indicate that NFM is negatively associated with CC-related knowledge, which in turn mediates the negative relationship between NFM and climate protection behaviors. However, this indirect association does not extend to CC-related environmental activism, where NFM has a positive and direct relationship. We explore how the different sub-dimensions of NFM contribute to these processes.