What drives political news engagement in digital spaces? Reimagining ‘echo chambers’ in a polarised and hybridised media ecology

Abstract

ABSTRACTToday’s hybridised media landscape has brought about fundamental shifts in political news consumption, increasing concerns about polarisation and ‘echo chambers.’ There is, however, no clear consensus regarding how echo chambers impact exposure to dissenting ideas or the purpose they serve for audiences. This paper discusses research combining Critical Discourse Analysis with a cultural studies Audience Reception epistemology to explore how 24 Western Australians engage with online news representations of asylum seekers. Findings revealed that, while many self-selected into echo chambers, most were motivated by convenience and/or self-care, and echo chambers did not restrict exposure to dissenting ideas. I argue that these findings challenge those reported in the ‘selective exposure’ literature, aligning more closely with a ‘uses and gratifications’ framework. I discuss the implications for communications scholarship and practice, highlighting a need to re-orient conceptualisations of news consumption that problematise echo chambers and more closely examine the different functions echo chambers serve.