The structures that shape news consumption

Evidence from the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic

Bibliographic Data

ID7478698
AuthorsJacob L Nelson (0000-0003-2714-9924, Arizona State University, corresponding author), Susan C Lewis (0000-0001-7498-0599, University of Oregon)
Year2022
Volume23
Issue12
Pages2495-2512
Publication date2022-05-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14648849221095335
PMID38603182
OpenAlexW4280651493
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited33

Researchers and practitioners increasingly believe that journalism must improve its relationship with audiences to increase the likelihood that people will consume and support news. In this paper, we argue that this assumption overlooks the importance of structural- and individual-level factors in shaping news audience behavior. Drawing on Giddens' theory of structuration, we suggest that, when it comes to the amount of time that people devote to news, consumers' choices are guided more by life circumstances than by news preferences. To illustrate this point, we draw on a combination of interview and audience analytics data collected when so many people's life circumstances changed: the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that people consumed more news during the early months of the pandemic than normal because (1) they had more time on their hands due to things like shelter-in-place orders, layoffs, and shifts to working from home and (2) they were more interested in understanding the coronavirus' spread and risks as well as the preventative measures being pursued. We conclude that journalists should embrace "journalistic humility," thereby acknowledging and accepting that they have much less control over the reception of their work than they would like to believe

Advertising · Aesthetics · Analytics · Business · Consumption (sociology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Data science · Humility · Journalism · Media studies · News media · News values · Pandemic · Period (music · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Media Studies and Communication · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics · Law

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