Abstract
Media availability and fragmentation and the resulting possibilities of content selection have risen dramatically with the expansion of new digital media. Previous research has found that this may increase knowledge gaps among citizens with different resources and motivations. This article analyses how Internet use affects political knowledge gaps due to education and to political interest in Spain. As expected, frequent Internet users are more knowledgeable about politics than non-users. Furthermore, Internet use increases knowledge more for the highly educated than for citizens with lower levels of education. Thus, the political knowledge gap related to education seems to be growing with the introduction of new media. However, the knowledge gap between citizens with high and low levels of political interest is smaller for frequent Internet users than for non-users. These findings provide a complex picture and partially contradict the pessimistic theory about the impact of increasing media choice on political knowledge.
Highlights
Political knowledge is linked to many attributes that de¿ne a good citizen: interest in politics; political involvement, discussion and participation; opinion consistency and stability; ability to evaluate governments and policies and to vote (Palfrey and Poole 1987; Zaller, 1992; Delli Carpini and Keeter, 1996; Lassen, 2005; Kim, Scheufele andShanahan, 2005; Fraile, 2007)
This article analyses to what extent, as the theoretical arguments of previous research carried out based on US evidence would suggest, Internet use in Spain produces an increase in knowledge gaps between citizens with different levels of education and political interest
In this article we have examined a variant of the knowledge gap hypothesis focusing on the impact of Internet use on political knowledge for the Spanish case
Summary
Political knowledge is linked to many attributes that de¿ne a good citizen: interest in politics; political involvement, discussion and participation; opinion consistency and stability; ability to evaluate governments and policies and to vote (Palfrey and Poole 1987; Zaller, 1992; Delli Carpini and Keeter, 1996; Lassen, 2005; Kim, Scheufele andShanahan, 2005; Fraile, 2007). While the most optimist accounts expected the Internet to increase the availability of political information and levels of knowledge, it seems that to the extent that these positive effects exist, they are mostly found in citizens with higher levels of resources and motivations (see for instance Kim, 2008; Prior, 2007).
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