News Avoidance and Media Trust

The final survey was administered online using random sampling through social media and professional networks. The sample comprised 512 valid responses collected over a six-week period. Table 3 presents sample demographics. Both theoretical and statistical considerations guided sample size determination. A priori power analysis using G*Power 3.1 indicated that a minimum sample of 485 participants would be needed to detect medium effect sizes (f² = 0.15) with 95% power at α = 0.05 for our structural equation model with three predictors.
Survey data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4 (Ringle et al., 2024). The measurement model demonstrated good fit (SRMR = 0.053, NFI = 0.903) with strong construct reliability (all Cronbach's α > 0.875) and satisfactory discriminant validity (all HTMT ratios < 0.80).