Deconstructing Digital News: The Dissonance between Students’ Language Attitudes and Critical Literacy in the Misinformation Era

Abstract

The growth of digital news has increased exposure to misleading information and demands students’ ability to evaluate news critically. However, the gap between students’ attitudes toward journalistic language principles and their critical literacy competence remains underexplored in journalism education. This study examines this gap using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design involving 29 sixth-semester students at STKIP Yapis Dompu, Indonesia. Quantitative data were collected through an attitude questionnaire and a critical literacy test using manipulated news texts. Subsequently, six students were selected for semi-structured interviews and think-aloud protocols. The results indicate that students’ attitudes toward journalistic principles were relatively positive, while their critical literacy scores were comparatively lower. The correlation between the two variables was weak and not statistically significant, r(27) = .13, p = .491. Qualitative findings show that students relied on source reputation, factual information, and headlines, while paying less attention to framing, omitted context, and linguistic manipulation. Theoretically, this study extends research on the attitude–competence gap to critical news literacy in journalism education. Practically, the findings highlight the need to integrate critical evaluation of sources, evidence, language, and context into journalism instruction. The study concludes that positive attitudes toward journalistic principles do not necessarily translate into effective critical news evaluation.