James G Webster
Biographic Data
| ID | 388005 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James G Webster |
| GIVEN NAMES | James G |
| FAMILY NAME | Webster |
| SIGNATURE | WEBSTER J G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northwestern University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 187 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1951 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Going with the flow: Nudging attention online
Theories explaining the impacts of online media often swing between the actions of empowered individuals and the distribution structures put in place by powerful corporations. To explicate how these factors interact, we adapt the concept of audience flow to highlight the temporal dimension of web use and demonstrate how digital architectures subtly nudge masses of people into online attention flows. We identify sequential usage patterns through a…
Building and Interpreting Audience Networks: A Response to Mukerjee, Majo-Vazquez & Gonzalez-Bailon
Building audience networks offers a way to apply the tools of network analysis to traditional audience data. Mukerjee, Majó-Vázquez, and González-Bailón (2018) have done this in their article on news consumption. They situate their analysis by making extensive reference to studies that we, and others, have published since 2011. Our colleagues at Annenberg and Oxford claim to have identified and corrected “flaws” in our work that have “started to …
The Myth of Partisan Selective Exposure: A Portrait of the Online Political News Audience
Many assume that in a digital environment with a wide range of ideologically tinged news outlets, partisan selective exposure to like-minded speech is pervasive and a primary cause of political polarization. Yet, partisan selective exposure research tends to stem from experimental or self-reported data, which limits the applicability of their findings in a high-choice media environment. We explore observed online audience behavior data to present…
Mass
The term “mass” is often used in social commentaries and communication theory. Frequently it is an unflattering adjective that connotes vulgarity, passivity, or susceptibility to influence. But just as importantly, it describes a way of thinking about society, and the operation of media systems. As a noun, a mass is an entity with specific attributes that exhibits institutionally consequential behaviors. Often these mass behaviors are more than t…
Why Study Measures of Exposure? From Exposure to Attention
This essay invites media researchers to use their expertise to address new questions. Measures of exposure are becoming evermore central to the operation of digital media, affecting both production and consumption. Because measurement practices have widespread social consequences, the study of measurement shouldn’t stop at questions of how best to quantify variables. It should also address questions of how measurement and data handling techniques…
Audience Measurement
How Do Global Audiences Take Shape? The Role of Institutions and Culture in Patterns of Web Use: The Role of Institutions and Culture in Patterns of Web Use
This study investigates the role of both cultural and technological factors in determining audience formation on a global scale. It integrates theories of media choice with theories of global cultural consumption and tests them by analyzing shared audience traffic between the world's 1,000 most popular websites. We find that language and geographic similarities are more powerful predictors of audience overlap than hyperlinks and genre similarity,…
The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences Take Shape in a Digital Age
How do media find an audience when there is an endless supply of content but a limited supply of public attention? Feature films, television shows, homemade videos, tweets, blogs, and breaking news: digital media offer an always-accessible, apparently inexhaustible supply of entertainment and information. Although choices seems endless, public attention is not. How do digital media find the audiences they need in an era of infinite choice? In The…
Ratings Analysis: Audience Measurement and Analytics
This 4th edition of Ratings Analysis describes and explains the current audience information system that supports economic exchange in both traditional and evolving electronic media markets. Responding to the major changes in electronic media distribution and audience research in recent years, Ratings Analysis provides a thoroughly updated presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting a…
The Mass Audience: Rediscovering the Dominant Model
In the early 20th century, a new and distinctive concept of the audience rose to prominence. The audience was seen as a mass -- a large collection of people mostly unknown to one another -- that was unified through exposure to media. This construct offered a pragmatic way to map audiences that was relevant to industry, government, and social theorists. In a relatively short period of time, it became the dominant model for studying the audience. T…
The Dynamics of Audience Fragmentation: Public Attention in an Age of Digital Media
Audience fragmentation is often taken as evidence of social polarization. Yet the tools we use to study fragmentation provide limited information about how people allocate their attention across digital media. We offer a theoretical framework for understanding fragmentation and advocate for more audience-centric studies. This approach is operationalized by applying network analysis metrics to Nielsen data on television and Internet use. We find e…
Media consumption across platforms: Identifying user-defined repertoires
New media have made available a wide range of platforms and content choices. However, audiences cope with abundant choices by using more narrowly defined repertoires. Unfortunately, we know little of how users create repertoires across media platforms. This study uses factor analysis to identify user-defined repertoires from data obtained by following 495 users throughout an entire day. Results indicate the presence of four repertoires that are p…
The Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention
Journal Article The Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 43-66, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01375.x Published: 19 January 2011
News-seekers and Avoiders: Exploring Patterns of Total News Consumption Across Media and the Relationship to Civic Participation
This study examines patterns of news consumption across multiple media platforms and relates them to civic participation. Analyzing a national sample of close to 25,000 respondents, nearly half the adult population in America is classified as news “Avoiders,” and the other half as “News-seekers.” Testing the relationship between civic participation and news consumption for each of 6 media platforms individually, and to an overall index combining …
Cultural Proximity and Audience Behavior: The Role of Language in Patterns of Polarization and Multicultural Fluency
Cultural proximity is a multidimensional concept, most often used to explain media preferences across national boundaries. The present study extends the construct, revealing its power to explain audience formation within a multicultural society. Portable People Meter data from Arbitron, Inc., was used to compare patterns of television and radio use across Spanish-speaking Hispanics, English-speaking Hispanics, and non-Hispanics in Houston, Texas.…
Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research
Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research provides a thorough and up-to-date presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the tools for becoming informed and discriminating consumers of audience information, from broadcasting to cable to the World Wide Web. In its third edition, this essential volume:*illustrates applications of …
Beneath the Veneer of Fragmentation: Television Audience Polarization in a Multichannel World
Journal Article Beneath the Veneer of Fragmentation: Television Audience Polarization in a Multichannel World Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1James G. Webster (PhD, 1980, Indiana University) is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University 2may be directed to Webster at Department of Communication Studies, 2240 Campus Drive, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. Search for other works by th…
Ratings Analysis: Audience Measurement and Analytics
This 4th edition of Ratings Analysis describes and explains the current audience information system that supports economic exchange in both traditional and evolving electronic media markets. Responding to the major changes in electronic media distribution and audience research in recent years, Ratings Analysis provides a thoroughly updated presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting a…
Structural determinants of the television news audience
This study examined the impact that program scheduling and market characteristics had on people's exposure to the early evening local news. Three factors combined to explain 81% of the variation in local news ratings across the U.S.: a station's network news rating, the lead‐in rating for the local news, and the size of the available television audience. We discussed how such structural factors might be better integrated into research and theory …
Audience Behavior in the New Media Environment
Journal Article Audience Behavior in the New Media Environment Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1James G. Webster is Associate Professor in the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and a Fellow of the Institute for Modern Communications, Northwestern University. The author thanks Arbitron Company for making the necessary data available Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, V…
Cable Television's Impact on Audience for Local News
A New Road for Student Socialism
The following article grew out of practical experience. This was mainly gained in helping to build a modest socialist club at a large urban university. To be sure, the club as it has actually taken shape is by no means exactly like the ideal discussed below. I have tried to benefit from our failures as well as from our successes, and one of my purposes in writing this article is to help others who may be thinking along similar lines to avoid the …
Media consumption across platforms: Identifying user-defined repertoires
New media have made available a wide range of platforms and content choices. However, audiences cope with abundant choices by using more narrowly defined repertoires. Unfortunately, we know little of how users create repertoires across media platforms. This study uses factor analysis to identify user-defined repertoires from data obtained by following 495 users throughout an entire day. Results indicate the presence of four repertoires that are p…
The Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention
Journal Article The Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 43-66, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01375.x Published: 19 January 2011
Cultural Proximity and Audience Behavior: The Role of Language in Patterns of Polarization and Multicultural Fluency
Cultural proximity is a multidimensional concept, most often used to explain media preferences across national boundaries. The present study extends the construct, revealing its power to explain audience formation within a multicultural society. Portable People Meter data from Arbitron, Inc., was used to compare patterns of television and radio use across Spanish-speaking Hispanics, English-speaking Hispanics, and non-Hispanics in Houston, Texas.…
The Myth of Partisan Selective Exposure: A Portrait of the Online Political News Audience
Many assume that in a digital environment with a wide range of ideologically tinged news outlets, partisan selective exposure to like-minded speech is pervasive and a primary cause of political polarization. Yet, partisan selective exposure research tends to stem from experimental or self-reported data, which limits the applicability of their findings in a high-choice media environment. We explore observed online audience behavior data to present…
Going with the flow: Nudging attention online
Theories explaining the impacts of online media often swing between the actions of empowered individuals and the distribution structures put in place by powerful corporations. To explicate how these factors interact, we adapt the concept of audience flow to highlight the temporal dimension of web use and demonstrate how digital architectures subtly nudge masses of people into online attention flows. We identify sequential usage patterns through a…
The Mass Audience: Rediscovering the Dominant Model
In the early 20th century, a new and distinctive concept of the audience rose to prominence. The audience was seen as a mass -- a large collection of people mostly unknown to one another -- that was unified through exposure to media. This construct offered a pragmatic way to map audiences that was relevant to industry, government, and social theorists. In a relatively short period of time, it became the dominant model for studying the audience. T…
Structural determinants of the television news audience
This study examined the impact that program scheduling and market characteristics had on people's exposure to the early evening local news. Three factors combined to explain 81% of the variation in local news ratings across the U.S.: a station's network news rating, the lead‐in rating for the local news, and the size of the available television audience. We discussed how such structural factors might be better integrated into research and theory …
Cable Television's Impact on Audience for Local News
A New Road for Student Socialism
The following article grew out of practical experience. This was mainly gained in helping to build a modest socialist club at a large urban university. To be sure, the club as it has actually taken shape is by no means exactly like the ideal discussed below. I have tried to benefit from our failures as well as from our successes, and one of my purposes in writing this article is to help others who may be thinking along similar lines to avoid the …
Cable Television's Impact on Audience for Local News
Audience Behavior in the New Media Environment
Journal Article Audience Behavior in the New Media Environment Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1James G. Webster is Associate Professor in the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and a Fellow of the Institute for Modern Communications, Northwestern University. The author thanks Arbitron Company for making the necessary data available Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, V…
Structural determinants of the television news audience
This study examined the impact that program scheduling and market characteristics had on people's exposure to the early evening local news. Three factors combined to explain 81% of the variation in local news ratings across the U.S.: a station's network news rating, the lead‐in rating for the local news, and the size of the available television audience. We discussed how such structural factors might be better integrated into research and theory …
Ratings Analysis: Audience Measurement and Analytics
This 4th edition of Ratings Analysis describes and explains the current audience information system that supports economic exchange in both traditional and evolving electronic media markets. Responding to the major changes in electronic media distribution and audience research in recent years, Ratings Analysis provides a thoroughly updated presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting a…
Beneath the Veneer of Fragmentation: Television Audience Polarization in a Multichannel World
Journal Article Beneath the Veneer of Fragmentation: Television Audience Polarization in a Multichannel World Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1James G. Webster (PhD, 1980, Indiana University) is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University 2may be directed to Webster at Department of Communication Studies, 2240 Campus Drive, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. Search for other works by th…
Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research
Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research provides a thorough and up-to-date presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the tools for becoming informed and discriminating consumers of audience information, from broadcasting to cable to the World Wide Web. In its third edition, this essential volume:*illustrates applications of …
Cultural Proximity and Audience Behavior: The Role of Language in Patterns of Polarization and Multicultural Fluency
Cultural proximity is a multidimensional concept, most often used to explain media preferences across national boundaries. The present study extends the construct, revealing its power to explain audience formation within a multicultural society. Portable People Meter data from Arbitron, Inc., was used to compare patterns of television and radio use across Spanish-speaking Hispanics, English-speaking Hispanics, and non-Hispanics in Houston, Texas.…
News-seekers and Avoiders: Exploring Patterns of Total News Consumption Across Media and the Relationship to Civic Participation
This study examines patterns of news consumption across multiple media platforms and relates them to civic participation. Analyzing a national sample of close to 25,000 respondents, nearly half the adult population in America is classified as news “Avoiders,” and the other half as “News-seekers.” Testing the relationship between civic participation and news consumption for each of 6 media platforms individually, and to an overall index combining …
The Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention
Journal Article The Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention Get access James G. Webster James G. Webster 1Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 43-66, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01375.x Published: 19 January 2011
The Dynamics of Audience Fragmentation: Public Attention in an Age of Digital Media
Audience fragmentation is often taken as evidence of social polarization. Yet the tools we use to study fragmentation provide limited information about how people allocate their attention across digital media. We offer a theoretical framework for understanding fragmentation and advocate for more audience-centric studies. This approach is operationalized by applying network analysis metrics to Nielsen data on television and Internet use. We find e…
Media consumption across platforms: Identifying user-defined repertoires
New media have made available a wide range of platforms and content choices. However, audiences cope with abundant choices by using more narrowly defined repertoires. Unfortunately, we know little of how users create repertoires across media platforms. This study uses factor analysis to identify user-defined repertoires from data obtained by following 495 users throughout an entire day. Results indicate the presence of four repertoires that are p…
Ratings Analysis: Audience Measurement and Analytics
This 4th edition of Ratings Analysis describes and explains the current audience information system that supports economic exchange in both traditional and evolving electronic media markets. Responding to the major changes in electronic media distribution and audience research in recent years, Ratings Analysis provides a thoroughly updated presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting a…
The Mass Audience: Rediscovering the Dominant Model
In the early 20th century, a new and distinctive concept of the audience rose to prominence. The audience was seen as a mass -- a large collection of people mostly unknown to one another -- that was unified through exposure to media. This construct offered a pragmatic way to map audiences that was relevant to industry, government, and social theorists. In a relatively short period of time, it became the dominant model for studying the audience. T…
The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences Take Shape in a Digital Age
How do media find an audience when there is an endless supply of content but a limited supply of public attention? Feature films, television shows, homemade videos, tweets, blogs, and breaking news: digital media offer an always-accessible, apparently inexhaustible supply of entertainment and information. Although choices seems endless, public attention is not. How do digital media find the audiences they need in an era of infinite choice? In The…
Audience Measurement
How Do Global Audiences Take Shape? The Role of Institutions and Culture in Patterns of Web Use: The Role of Institutions and Culture in Patterns of Web Use
This study investigates the role of both cultural and technological factors in determining audience formation on a global scale. It integrates theories of media choice with theories of global cultural consumption and tests them by analyzing shared audience traffic between the world's 1,000 most popular websites. We find that language and geographic similarities are more powerful predictors of audience overlap than hyperlinks and genre similarity,…
Mass
The term “mass” is often used in social commentaries and communication theory. Frequently it is an unflattering adjective that connotes vulgarity, passivity, or susceptibility to influence. But just as importantly, it describes a way of thinking about society, and the operation of media systems. As a noun, a mass is an entity with specific attributes that exhibits institutionally consequential behaviors. Often these mass behaviors are more than t…
Why Study Measures of Exposure? From Exposure to Attention
This essay invites media researchers to use their expertise to address new questions. Measures of exposure are becoming evermore central to the operation of digital media, affecting both production and consumption. Because measurement practices have widespread social consequences, the study of measurement shouldn’t stop at questions of how best to quantify variables. It should also address questions of how measurement and data handling techniques…
The Myth of Partisan Selective Exposure: A Portrait of the Online Political News Audience
Many assume that in a digital environment with a wide range of ideologically tinged news outlets, partisan selective exposure to like-minded speech is pervasive and a primary cause of political polarization. Yet, partisan selective exposure research tends to stem from experimental or self-reported data, which limits the applicability of their findings in a high-choice media environment. We explore observed online audience behavior data to present…
Building and Interpreting Audience Networks: A Response to Mukerjee, Majo-Vazquez & Gonzalez-Bailon
Building audience networks offers a way to apply the tools of network analysis to traditional audience data. Mukerjee, Majó-Vázquez, and González-Bailón (2018) have done this in their article on news consumption. They situate their analysis by making extensive reference to studies that we, and others, have published since 2011. Our colleagues at Annenberg and Oxford claim to have identified and corrected “flaws” in our work that have “started to …
Going with the flow: Nudging attention online
Theories explaining the impacts of online media often swing between the actions of empowered individuals and the distribution structures put in place by powerful corporations. To explicate how these factors interact, we adapt the concept of audience flow to highlight the temporal dimension of web use and demonstrate how digital architectures subtly nudge masses of people into online attention flows. We identify sequential usage patterns through a…
Computer Science (16 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Media Studies and Communication (13 works) · Business (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Advertising (10 works) · Social Media and Politics (10 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Media studies (7 works) · Public relations (6 works)