Cross-media news diets revisited: an audience-centred study on news media repertoires in Flanders

Abstract

Digitization has fundamentally transformed both news media industries and markets. Since the emergence of the Internet, news consumers are increasingly turning to a combination of offline and online environments to consult news updates. This research aims to investigate news media repertoires in Flanders in the era of convergence. The study elaborates on what news outlets are being combined news media repertoires (also called ‘cross-media news diets’) (RQ 1) and what motivations audiences rely on for choosing these specific news outlets (RQ2). In today’s progressively converging news media environment, audiences are confronted with an abundance of content offered via both traditional and new media outlets. To cope with this news overload, audiences increasingly compose a personalized media diet or news media repertoire. Hasebrink and Domeyer (2012) define news media repertoires as relatively small subsets of news media composed by audience members. News audiences are thus seeking access, navigating in and making sense of the multitude of news messages across print, broadcasting, online and mobile media platforms (Schroder, 2014). The repertoire-approach is particularly valuable, since it offers a framework necessary for grasping news consumption in the networked media era. It follows Schroder’s (2011) assumption that audiences are inherently cross-media. Simple classifications based on the most-used medium, as used in the mass media era, are not only difficult to apply but also increasingly outdated (Lee & Yang, 2014). As a matter of fact, news consumption is not just a simple choice between traditional and new media; audiences actively combine different news sources into complex patterns of media use (Yuan, 2011). This study thus aims to investigate what news media repertoires are composed and how audiences compose particular news diets. It draws upon a mixed-method approach, which involves a Q-sorting task, embedded in much larger in-depth, face-to-face interviews (N = 42). The qualitativequantitative Q-sort technique (Schroder & Kobbernagel, 2010) is used to investigate subjectivity and requires the informants to sort a number of statements on a fixed normal distribution with a predefined number of positions, according to a specified dimension. Each position is thus associated to a numerical value. In this case, the statements were 36 types of news media, following a bi-polar dimension ranging from ‘does not play a role in my life’ to ‘plays an important role in my life’. In the analysis, principal component analysis is used to reduce the informant correlation matrix to a simple structure. This implies that patterns of informants sharing a similar stance towards news media are derived, and hence participants with similar news repertoires are identified. These components or groups of informants are then used to guide the qualitative analysis, which is the focal point of attention in this study. Results will show a variety (approximately six to eight) of news repertoires can be defined, based on three dimensions: (1) consumption on traditional and/or new platforms, (2) news content preferences, and (3) the serendipitous nature of news use. After mapping the currently adopted news media repertoires, a subsequent phase of qualitative analysis will follow in order to reveal the users’ motivations for these news media repertoires. The patterns revealed in the Q-sort will serve as analytic tools, guiding the search for an in-depth understanding of why these news outlets are combined into the adopted news media repertoires. The focus of the qualitative phase lies on expectations towards news outlets, news use habits as well as trust in news media. References Hasebrink, U. & Domeyer, H. (2012). Media repertoires as patterns of behaviour and as meaningful practices: A multimethod approach to media use in converging media environments. Participations, 9(2), 757-779. Lee, H., & Yang, J. (2014). Political knowledge gaps among news consumers with different news media repertoires across multiple platforms. International Journal of Communication, 8, 21. Schroder, K. C., & Kobbernagel, C. (2010). Towards a typology of cross-media news consumption: a qualitativequantitative synthesis. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, 8(1), 115-137. Schroder, K. C. (2011). Audiences are inherently cross-media: audience studies and the cross-media challenge. Communication Management Quarterly, 18(6), 5–27. Schroder, K. C. (2014). News media old and new: fluctuating audiences, news repertoires and locations of consumption. Journalism Studies, 1-19 (ahead-of-print). doi: 10.1080/ 1461670X.2014.890332 Yuan, E. (2011). News consumption across multiple media platforms: A repertoire approach. Information, Communication & Society, 14(7), 998-1016. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2010.549235