The expectation-evaluation gap: Audience news engagement and perceptions of media performance and credibility

Abstract

This study explicates and examines a hypothesized discrepancy in public perceptions of the normative roles of journalists and evaluations of journalists’ actual performance. We argue that journalistic functions and public perceptions are mutually constituted, a point that has been largely ignored in existing journalism studies literature. We theoretically connect the expectation-evaluation gap with the public assessment of media credibility in a model that involves the moderation effect by depth of news engagement. Contextualized in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 period, the study conducted a random sample survey of 603 residents. Results of data analyses supported all our hypotheses: (1) a salient expectation-evaluation gap exists; (2) the wider the gap, the lower the media credibility ratings; (3) cognitive engagement in news consumption is an important condition in the process. Findings mark an epistemological break from the traditional one-way approach in journalism studies, and could potentially inform the journalist-audience literature, public policy and the media industry.