A cognitive mechanism for democratic norms: testing a hypothesized model of news literacy, cross-cutting discussion, and elaboration

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the cognitive process by which individuals who critically and mindfully evaluate news stories and who elaborate more on cross-cutting views will be more likely to have enhanced democratic norms. This study employs a national survey collected by the media institute of the Korean Broadcasting System in 2021. The findings of structural equation modeling (SEM) shed light on how individuals engage in cognitive mechanisms for democratic norms, indicating that those who often use news and evaluate it in a critical and mindful manner are more likely to endorse democratic norms as they often talk with cross-cutting networks and elaborate different thoughts of other discussants.