Abstract
Media fragmentation and polarization have contributed to blurring the lines between professional and non-professional journalism. Internationally, more fragmented-polarized media environments are often associated with the emergence of non-professional news providers, the weakening of journalistic standards, and the segmentation of audiences along ideological leanings. Furthermore, these environments are home to partisan and alternative news media outlets, some of which try to actively undermine the credibility of traditional mainstream media in their reporting. By following an audience-centric approach, this study investigates the consequences of more fragmented-polarized media environments and consumption habits on users’ perceptions of news media performance. We use online-survey data from five countries that differ in the extent of fragmentation and polarization in the media environment (CH = 1,859, DK = 2,667, IT = 2,121, PL = 2,536, US = 3,493). We find that perceptions of high news media performance are more likely to be expressed by citizens from less fragmented-polarized media environments. Positive perceptions of news media performance are also stronger among users of traditional media, and those who inform themselves in a more attitude-congruent manner. By contrast, citizens from more fragmented-polarized media environments and users of alternative news media tend to express less satisfaction with news media performance. Based on these results, we argue that perceptions of news media performance among news users are shaped by their individual media choices as well as by the composition of the news media environments that surrounds them.
Highlights
When evaluating media content and performance, the perspective of media users plays an ever-increasing role in current multi-platform information environments
While inclusion of the audience can vary in its degree (Peters & Witschge, 2015), we argue that a minimal understanding of representation entails depiction of issues and opinions members of the audience hold important (Neuberger, 2014), as well as the availability of news outlets that represent their views (Costera Meijer & Bijleveld, 2016)
Previous studies building on content analysis revealed that new trends brought about by media fragmentation and polarization have impacted actual news performance by, for example, undermining diverse and objective news reporting (Benson, Blach-Ørsten, Powers, Willig, & Zambrano, 2012; Umbricht & Esser, 2016)
Summary
When evaluating media content and performance, the perspective of media users plays an ever-increasing role in current multi-platform information environments. Greater opportunities for media audiences to make their voices heard have meant that audiences are increasingly expressing their opinions about the quality of news and media (e.g., Dohle, 2018). Both media quality and news media performance research consider the audience perspective as an important research approach (Maurer, 2017). Studies have found that media audiences’ views are highly generalizable, and that users apply normative standards similar to those used by journalists and experts to evaluate news media performance (Neuberger, 2014; Urban & Schweiger, 2014). The antecedents of audiences’ media perceptions have rarely been scrutinized
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