TY - JOUR
T1 - Navigating High-Choice European Political Information Environments
T2 - a Comparative Analysis of News User Profiles and Political Knowledge
AU - Castro, Laia
AU - Strömbäck, Jesper
AU - Esser, Frank
AU - Van Aelst, Peter
AU - de Vreese, Claes
AU - Aalberg, Toril
AU - Cardenal, Ana S.
AU - Corbu, Nicoleta
AU - Hopmann, David Nicolas
AU - Koc-Michalska, Karolina
AU - Matthes, Jörg
AU - Schemer, Christian
AU - Sheafer, Tamir
AU - Splendore, Sergio
AU - Stanyer, James
AU - Stępińska, Agnieszka
AU - Štětka, Václav
AU - Theocharis, Yannis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - The transition from low- to high-choice media environments has had far-reaching implications for citizens’ media use and its relationship with political knowledge. However, there is still a lack of comparative research on how citizens combine the usage of different media and how that is related to political knowledge. To fill this void, we use a unique cross-national survey about the online and offline media use habits of more than 28,000 individuals in 17 European countries. Our aim is to (i) profile different types of news consumers and (ii) understand how each user profile is linked to political knowledge acquisition. Our results show that five user profiles – news minimalists, social media news users, traditionalists, online news seekers, and hyper news consumers – can be identified, although the prevalence of these profiles varies across countries. Findings further show that both traditional and online-based news diets are correlated with higher political knowledge. However, online-based news use is more widespread in Southern Europe, where it is associated with lower levels of political knowledge than in Northern Europe. By focusing on news audiences, this study provides a comprehensive and fine-grained analysis of how contemporary European political information environments perform and contribute to an informed citizenry.
AB - The transition from low- to high-choice media environments has had far-reaching implications for citizens’ media use and its relationship with political knowledge. However, there is still a lack of comparative research on how citizens combine the usage of different media and how that is related to political knowledge. To fill this void, we use a unique cross-national survey about the online and offline media use habits of more than 28,000 individuals in 17 European countries. Our aim is to (i) profile different types of news consumers and (ii) understand how each user profile is linked to political knowledge acquisition. Our results show that five user profiles – news minimalists, social media news users, traditionalists, online news seekers, and hyper news consumers – can be identified, although the prevalence of these profiles varies across countries. Findings further show that both traditional and online-based news diets are correlated with higher political knowledge. However, online-based news use is more widespread in Southern Europe, where it is associated with lower levels of political knowledge than in Northern Europe. By focusing on news audiences, this study provides a comprehensive and fine-grained analysis of how contemporary European political information environments perform and contribute to an informed citizenry.
KW - comparative research
KW - cross-national
KW - news media use
KW - news repertoires
KW - political knowledge
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105730190&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/19401612211012572
DO - 10.1177/19401612211012572
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:85105730190
SN - 1940-1612
VL - 27
SP - 827
EP - 859
JO - International Journal of Press/Politics
JF - International Journal of Press/Politics
IS - 4
ER -