The Polarized News Audience? A Longitudinal Study of News-Seekers and News-Avoiders in Europe

With more media choices, people can easily remove themselves from news and current affairs. This has arguably led to an increased impact of political interest and an audience polarization dividing people into news-seekers and news-avoiders. Using data from the European Social Survey, this study investigate polarization of news consumption in 34 European countries from 2002 to 2010. The results show a general increase in the amount of news-avoiders, while the share of news-seekers has decreased. On a European level, news-avoiders now outnumber news-seekers, but there are important cross-national differences. The impact of political interest on news consumption has not increased.

Keywords: News media use, democracy, news-seekers, news-avoiders, European Social Survey

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Elvestad, Eiri and Blekesaune, Arild and Aalberg, Toril, The Polarized News Audience? A Longitudinal Study of News-Seekers and News-Avoiders in Europe (July 22, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2469713 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2469713