Abstract
News media can influence citizens’ health beliefs about COVID-19 and eventually their vaccination intention. However, existing literature has rarely investigated how such effect is contingent upon a country-level factor: press freedom. Situated in the Health Belief Model, this study draws upon a multi-national survey (N = 3,599), involving 10 major cities in Asia to address the research gap. Results showed that news exposure has a positive effect on personal health beliefs on COVID-19, affecting their vaccination intention. More interestingly, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs about COVID-19 was negatively moderated by level of press freedom – that is, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs is stronger in cities that belong to countries with low levels of press freedom.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2158-2166 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Health Communication |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 6 Apr 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 24 Aug 2023 |
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
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