Political News Consumption Research Articles

The Degree of Homogeneity Versus Heterogeneity in Individuals’ Political News Consumption

Abstract: This work investigated the prevalence of filter bubble or echo chamber-related phenomena, psychological factors rendering individuals resilient or vulnerable to them, and their associations to political views focusing on extremity and polarization. For this, a cross-cultural replication of a study by Sindermann et al. (2021) was conducted. As an extension, multiple political views variables were assessed to examine whether the application of different conceptualizations of political views explains heterogeneous findings across previous studies. Two samples were recruited: 390 ( n = 135 males) US college students and a quota sample of 489 ( n = 243 males) US adults. Participants completed personality scales and measures on political news consumption homogeneity versus heterogeneity and political views. Consistent with previous research, results revealed few individuals consume political news absolutely homogeneously. Openness was negatively related to the degree of political news consumption homogeneity, and the relationship between political news consumption homogeneity and political views yielded inconsistent, often statistically nonsignificant, results. These findings challenge the prevailing notion of filter bubbles and echo chambers as widespread phenomena and indicate that relationships between political news consumption homogeneity and political views are not necessarily deleterious with respect to extremization and polarization. As such, the results suggest that these phenomena might not be as significant for the general population as previously thought. Nonetheless, certain individuals might still find themselves in filter bubbles or echo chambers and suffer from accompanying consequences. In this regard, the present work replicates findings underscoring that individuals with lower Openness exhibit greater political news consumption homogeneity.

Online news platforms still matter: generational news consumption patterns during the 2020 presidential election

Abstract Purpose Gen Z or younger news audiences are believed to contribute to declining news consumption as a result of decreased news interest and reduced trust, particularly in political news. It can have adverse consequences for democratic processes. This study offers a more nuanced perspective by qualifying the role of context, and generational differences and similarities in online political news consumption patterns before and after the 2020 US presidential election, which witnessed a series of unprecedented events in the country’s history. Design/methodology/approach To investigate these patterns, I use US aggregated website visitation data from Comscore in a quasi-experimental interrupted time series design, leveraging the 2020 election as a natural experimental condition. Findings While Gen Z are indeed consuming considerably less news, contrary to assumptions, there was significantly increased engagement with news websites following the election. Additionally, media audiences across generations are likely to reduce social media use during such events. Implications Major political events can significantly influence media use patterns such as the extent of news consumption in general and political news in particular, something not often considered in media effects-oriented research. There is also an urgent need to review and reassess our definitions of news, news sources, and its audience. Originality/value By using observational data in a quasi-experimental design, this study offers a more precise and refined perspective of generational patterns of online political news consumption in the context of a major political event that both corroborates as well as challenges some our existing notions of media use.

New social media nones: how and why Americans have changed their use of social media to consume political news

PurposeSocial media (SM) platforms have become major sources for generating, sharing and gathering political and election news. Although there appears to be an assumption that reliance on SM for political news consumption will continue to gain in popularity, there are reasons to believe that many Americans are retreating from using SM for political news. The purpose of this study is to examine if Americans are reducing reliance on SM for political news and to analyze why retreat may be happening.Design/methodology/approachUsing longitudinal panel data from Pew’s American Trends Panel study, the authors tracked 993 respondents from February of 2016 to November of 2019 to monitor their reliance on SM for political news leading up to the 2020 US presidential election.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that a sizeable percentage of people (about a third) are retreating from SM platforms for political news consumption and some are abandoning it altogether – people we refer to as new SM “nones.” The authors find that retreat from SM is associated with increased distrust of the information found on the platforms. Concerns about fake news, incivility on SM and information overload were unrelated to retreat from use of SM for political news consumption.Originality/valueThe findings of this study are novel and suggest that reliance on SM for political news by the public may have waxed, seen its zenith and may now be waning largely because of distrust in the information found on SM platforms.

Asymmetric ideological segregation in exposure to political news on Facebook.

Does Facebook enable ideological segregation in political news consumption? We analyzed exposure to news during the US 2020 election using aggregated data for 208 million US Facebook users. We compared the inventory of all political news that users could have seen in their feeds with the information that they saw (after algorithmic curation) and the information with which they engaged. We show that (i) ideological segregation is high and increases as we shift from potential exposure to actual exposure to engagement; (ii) there is an asymmetry between conservative and liberal audiences, with a substantial corner of the news ecosystem consumed exclusively by conservatives; and (iii) most misinformation, as identified by Meta's Third-Party Fact-Checking Program, exists within this homogeneously conservative corner, which has no equivalent on the liberal side. Sources favored by conservative audiences were more prevalent on Facebook's news ecosystem than those favored by liberals.

ROLE OF DIGITAL PLATFORM IN CREATION OF PUBLIC SPHERE FOR LOCAL POLITICAL NEWS CONSUMPTION: A CASE STUDY OF DIGITAL NEWS PORTAL IN KODAGU DISTRICT

News Consumption through digital media brought disruption for consumption of news .No other media has reached many hands so far in such a Short Span. The political news consumption has become a core element of democratic engagement. 2020 saw demand pattern shift with acceleration in digital media adoption aided by the growth of digital media infrastructure. Digital and online gamings were the only segments which grew aggregate of INR 26 billion consequently their Contribution to the media and entertainment industry (FICCI report 2021).The specific objective of the study is to explore the number of news portal and to find out the content uploaded in such news portal. The study also tries to analyse the space provided in digital media for political news. A researcher used qualitative research method using content analysis as a research tool. Interview was conducted among 5 Journalist in kodagu district to investigate the research problem. Keywords: Digital Platform, Political news, Public Sphere, Kodagu District.

Election Campaigns, News Consumption Gaps, and Social Media: Equalizing Political News Use When It Matters?

We investigate how inequalities in political media use develop throughout election campaigns, and in particular whether social media use helps counterbalance traditional news consumption gaps. Using a four-wave individual-level panel survey of the Norwegian 2017 national election campaign, we run a series of latent growth models to investigate whether differences in news consumption based on gender, age, education, and political interest increase or decrease during campaigns. We find that news consumption gaps are either stable or converge throughout the campaign. Importantly, social media provides political information to those groups that use traditional media channels the least and thereby reduce overall gaps in political media consumption. In this way, election campaigns, to some extent, equalize inequalities in political news consumption when it matters the most.

Are Newsjunkies More Likely to Vote? Intrinsic Need for Orientation and Voter Registration, Intention to Vote, and Voter Conscientiousness

This study examined the newsjunkie characteristic—intrinsic need for orientation (INFO)—as a predictor of being registered to vote, intention to vote, and voter conscientiousness among a large sample of U.S. adults (N = 2,059), while controlling for media use, news consumption, political partisanship, and demographics. INFO assesses the extent to which people access news in their downtime, feel discomfort when they cannot get news, check news among the first things they do daily, and believe that following news connects them with others. The current study is the first to examine relationships between the sustained, psychological INFO trait and political participation. INFO rests upon theoretical frameworks of uses and gratifications and self‐determination theory, both of which are employed in this study. INFO was positively correlated with being registered to vote, with intending to vote in the 2020 U.S. election, and with voter conscientiousness, even after controlling for numerous other variables. Additionally, INFO was still positively associated with the political participation variables after political news consumption was included as a mediator in three mediation analyses.

Emotions as Key to Russian GenZs’ Consumption of Political News

Media consumption by the digital generation in Russia should not only be of interest to media researchers or managers. The fact that young people's interaction with various information sources and the media is noticeably different from the daily practice of older generations and has created new trends and habits, must be taken into account by the teaching community, parents, and political forces. This issue is of particular interest to politicians, because it points to the need for them to transform their information policy. The purpose of this study was to find out how media formats that appeal to emotions of young people influence their media consumption. During the first stage, we surveyed respondents in three cities with populations of over one million; the surveys allowed us to identify key sources of information and the motivation for various kinds of digital content consumption by youth. During the second stage, 20 in-depth interviews provided a deeper understanding of where the teenagers got their political news and what influenced their consumption. The authors of this paper have concluded that the digital generation does not consume political news purposefully. They rarely turn to socio-political publications and do not watch shows on federal TV channels. In fact, members of this generation mostly deny having any interest in this topic or awareness of it. However, through various entertaining, primarily humorous, content, which is the most popular among young people, a clear political agenda, albeit subjective, is being formed in their information space. Our work refutes the common misconception of researchers, representatives of the state system, and journalists that the digital generation is not interested in politics. Rather, their pursuit of emotional experiences, primarily positive ones, has become their main incentive for consuming political news.

THE SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF FORMING POLITICAL CYNICISM

The article considers the problem of political cynicism. The content of the relevant construct and its components, as well as potential factors of the spread of political cynicism, were analyzed. An analysis of social, political (political system, ideology, political activity of the population and its attitude to politics and power) and media (distribution of scandalous, conflict-causing information about politicians, moving the focus to the affective component, nature of dissemination and consumption of such information by voters, etc.) was carried out. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of psychological factors in the formation of political cynicism (the presence of certain cognitive attitudes and prejudices regarding politics, the level of political activity, individual psychological characteristics of voters). The results of the own research of socio-psychological factors in the formation of political cynicism are presented. The general indicators of the sample were analyzed according to the scales that most represent the construct "political cynicism": interest in politics, level of trust in politicians, level of political knowledge, personal cynicism and cynical attitude towards political objects, and it was found that the sample is generally characterized by average level of political cynicism (tendency to oppose politicians to a certain extent, show distrust and disdain for them). The results of the analysis of the sample according to other psychological indicators (a measure of political participation, political identification and motivational component in politics, the ratio of external and internal locus of control, conformity and dominance) are presented, as well as the results of the analysis of the intensity and manner of the respondents' consumption of political information disseminated in the media. The relevant indicators were reflected in the regression model, which demonstrates the most likely factors in the formation of political cynicism, the most significant of which are: specifics of political and ideological self-determination (low level of authoritative self-affirmation, predominance of normative intransigence and positional competitiveness), intense, indiscriminate and uncritical consumption of political news (mainly televised), features of political activity (developed verbal-communicative component of political participation and political interest with a low behavioral-volitional component), conformism and external locus of control.

The degree of heterogeneity of news consumption in Germany—Descriptive statistics and relations with individual differences in personality, ideological attitudes, and voting intentions

This study aimed to examine the degree of homogeneity versus heterogeneity of individuals’ political information environments across offline and online media types and relations with sociodemographic variables, personality, and political attitudes. In two online surveys, German participants (sample 1: N = 686; sample 2: N = 702) provided information on sociodemographic variables, consumption of political news, and voting intentions, and completed the Big Five Inventory and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) scales. Results revealed that absolutely homogeneous political news consumption was evident for a small proportion of individuals (2.04% and 0.43%). Openness (positively) and Agreeableness (negatively) exhibited significant associations with the degree of heterogeneity of political information environments across samples. No consistent patterns of relations with either the ideological attitudes of RWA and SDO or voting intentions were observed. The findings shed light on the existence of absolutely homogeneous political information environments and “who” might be prone to a more homogeneous versus more heterogeneous information environment.

Is WhatsApp and Telegram free of the elites: The 2018 General Elections in Malaysia

2018 was a particularly significant year for Malaysia, as citizens democratically dethroned a 61-year-old regime, Barisan Nasional (BN, the National Front), and replaced it with Pakatan Harapan (PH, the Alliance of Hope) without bloodshed. This article attempts to systematically analyze the evolution of new media from the 2008 election (taking place in the blogging era, which contributed to the “electoral tsunami” in Malaysia that year) to 2018, which saw the rise of encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp, a formidable point for the dissemination and consumption of political news in Malaysia. Methodologically, the normative method of the shared values theory was adopted to better explain how new media is currently used to shape the political ideas of ordinary Malaysians. The findings suggest that there is a clear attempt by political leaders to coopt opinion leaders at various levels, particularly religious leaders, academicians, think tanks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with the intention of influencing and shaping the political leanings of those who are less interested in politics, using a centralized agenda-setting mechanism. The findings also suggest that opinion leaders were purposely selected according to their higher social capital value and social authority, and evidence from the study suggests that instant messaging services are not totally free from the influence of political and economic elites. Keywords: Collective identity, Malaysian politics, new media, political mobilizations

Gender inequalities in political participation and political engagement among young people in Europe: Are young women less politically engaged than young men?

This paper contributes to the literature by examining gender inequalities in political participation and political engagement among young people from a comparative perspective. By analysing data on young people from nine European countries collected in 2018, we examine gender inequalities in participation in various modes of conventional and unconventional activism as well as related attitudes, broader political engagement and key determinants, cross-nationally, in order to provide a detailed picture of the current state of gender inequalities in political activism among young people in Europe. Our results allow us to speak to extant theorising about gender inequalities by showing that the extent of political inequality between young men and women is less marked than one might expect. While the gender gaps in political participation for activities such as confrontational types of protest are small or absent, we find that young women are actually more active in petitioning, boycotting, and volunteering in the community. Young men instead are more active than young women in a majority of the nine countries analysed with respect to more institutional forms of participation linked to organizations and parties, various types of online political participation, and broader political engagement measures, such as internal political efficacy and consumption of political news through various channels. However, young men also appear to be more sceptical at least of certain aspects of democratic practice relative to young women.

Transitions in marital, parental, occupational status, and political news consumption in China

ABSTRACT While research on stratified news media consumption has been devoted to age, gender, and education, the life transitions in terms of people’s marital, parental, and occupational status have received little attention. This article takes a life-course approach to test Chinese people’s behavioral changes in consuming political news via television and the Internet. Analyses of two waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies demonstrate that forming a partnership encourages television watching for political information while the arrival of a child inhibits such usage, whereas having children in the household and transitioning from unemployment to employment foster online political news consumption.

Personality factors and self-reported political news consumption predict susceptibility to political fake news

The existence of fake news on social media is likely to influence important issues such as elections, attitudes toward public policy, and health care decisions. Studies have shown that individual differences predict participants' ability to discern real and fake news. The present study examined whether personality factors and news consumption predict an individual's political news discernment. Participants (N = 353) judged the accuracy of true and false political news headlines, completed a personality inventory, and reported how many hours they obtained political news from various sources in a typical week. Regression analyses revealed that greater levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, open-mindedness, lower levels of extraversion, and fewer hours of news consumption were related to better news discernment. Participants also showed a bias toward headlines consistent with their self-reported political ideology, and this bias was related to consumption of ideologically biased news sources. These results extend those that have identified individual differences in news discernment, demonstrating that personality factors and news consumption are related to the ability to discern between true and false political news.

Parsing the Relationship Between Political News Consumption and Hierarchical Political Trust in China

ABSTRACT The relationship between news consumption via new media and political trust has been constantly contested in prior research. This dispute has become more salient in an authoritarian context. Both “networked authoritarianism” and “non-confrontational digital activism” are concepts that have been used to capture the methods of political control or resistance by appropriating new media technologies under an authoritarian regime. This study responds to the dispute by investigating news media effects on hierarchical political trust to parse the mechanism of effective governance using national survey data (N = 3781) in China. We found that the effects of news consumption from various media sources on political trust in both central and local governments were mediated by perceived happiness and moderated by the authoritarian values of Chinese netizens. These findings remind us that the formation of political trust is a sophisticated socio-psychological process in which diachronic social and economic changes, as well as the persistent political culture need to be fully considered.

CONSUMPTION OF ONLINE POLITICAL NEWS AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF FIRST-TIME VOTERS

In some countries, it is stated that youth political participation tends to decline, and the media are then regarded as ones of the causes of this decline. This is strongly supported by the media perspective. However, it is undeniable that there are contradictions to these views, which bring forth the mobilization perspective. There are also parties who consider that the media have merits in increasing political participation. In this case, communication plays an important role as an analytical tool to determine the effect of online political news consumption on political participation. Political knowledge is used as a mediator in this study. This study was conducted to see the position of Consumption of Online Political News in influencing Political Participation through Political Knowledge among Students. The study employed a quantitative method through questionnaires as an effort to collect and analyze data through regression analysis. Population in this study is Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia’s student that used online news portal. The questionnaires were distributed to 100 student respondents. Sampling method of this study using purposive sampling with several criterias. The results of the study show that there is a significant effect of online political news consumption on political participation with a direct value 0,719.

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

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.

An Alternative to Representation: Explaining Preferences for Citizens as Political Decision-Makers

Extensive scholarly attention is devoted to citizens’ preferences for alternative models of political decision-making. However, few efforts were made to identify who these citizens are and why they display a certain preference. To address this void in the literature, our article analyzes the determinants of preferences for citizens as decision-makers. It uses individual-level data from a 2014 survey on a probability representative sample in Germany and tests the effects of political attitudes toward institutions of representative democracy, interest in politics, and civic involvement. It controls for consumption of political news, education, and age.

You’re (Not) Welcome: The Impact of Symbolic Boundaries, Intergroup Contact, and Experiences With Discrimination on Immigration Attitudes

Against the backdrop of Europe’s migrant crisis, this study investigates attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy. Specifically, how do Europeans’ attitudes stem from: (a) the symbolic boundaries they draw regarding immigrants (i.e., their perceptions of what constitutes an immigrant); (b) their contact with racially and ethnically different others; and (c) their own experiences with discrimination? Data from the 2014-2015 European Social Survey ( N = 37,623) show Europeans’ symbolic boundaries regarding immigrants varied by respondents’ sociodemographics, consumption of political news, and social trust. Most, but not all, forms of intergroup contact enhanced support for specific groups and broader immigration policy. Contrary to expectations, experience with discrimination did not shape attitudes toward specific immigrant groups. Our discussion focuses on theoretical implications, future research, and how findings can inform contemporary public discourse about the migrant crisis.

Civic Engagement in the Americas

This paper estimates the effect of voting eligibility on civic engagement measured along three dimensions: political motivation, political activities, and political knowledge. These outcomes originate in the AmericasBarometer 2004-2016 surveys of eligible voters. To identify the effects the paper exploits variation in field survey dates relative to election dates, given country-specific voting age laws. It is found that voter enfranchisement increases self-reported interest in politics, political socialization, and attendance of political meetings; however, consumption of political news is not statistically different between eligible and non-eligible citizens. Some evidence indicates that the political activities voters engage in translate into increased political knowledge, in contrast with the view that voters are rationally ignorant. The effects are larger in countries with enforced mandatory voting.