Pop Culture News as a Bridge to Politics?

Abstract

AbstractAfter mapping the different types of audiences who find their way to news at the nexus of pop culture and politics, this chapter explores firsthand how audience members understand its relative value for learning about political issues and viewpoints and for fueling personal acts of political expression on social media. Although some evidence suggests that pop-culture-focused audiences can use entertainment news as a bridge to political discourse that they would not otherwise access, a more common pattern is that audiences who already have high levels of political interest find value in pop culture news as a supplemental element of the political information environment. At the same time, some audience members who follow and share this news raise concerns about its capacity to distract them from more traditional public affairs content, suggesting that entertainment journalism can function as a bridge both toward and away from the sphere of political engagement.