Who Consumes Political News through YouTube?: An Application of the OMA Framework to YouTube Use in South Korea

This study analyzes how individual motivations including political interest and media trust and cognitive abilities affect news consumption through YouTube in a high choice media environment of South Korea. In the empirical analysis, we use a nationally representative dataset differentiating respondents in tree types of users concerning YouTube -namely, non-users, non-news consumers, and news consumers. Applying a binary response model with sample selection, we resolve a potential selectin bias and prove that political interest is the strongest motivation leading individuals to consume news through YouTube. In addition, the positive impact of political interest is shown to increases as individuals trust less traditional news media. However, we do not find any evidence that news consumption through YouTube is biased toward a specific party or ideological orientation.