Where populist citizens get the news: An investigation of news audience polarization along populist attitudes in 11 countries |
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Authors: | Anne Schulz |
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Affiliation: | Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland |
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Abstract: | This article presents a secondary analysis of two multi-national cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2015 (11 countries, N?=?10,570) and 2017 (4 countries, N?=?2165) to examine the relationship between populist attitudes and media use. The results indicate that populist citizens are more likely to consume news than non-populist citizens. Specifically, populist citizens exhibit a preference for commercial television (TV) news, as well as a tendency to read tabloid newspapers. While they use fewer quality newspapers, public TV news are not systematically avoided. Regarding the online news environment, populist citizens prefer Facebook over Twitter as a source of political information. This selective pattern will be discussed in light of the debates on news audience polarization and political polarization. |
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Keywords: | Populist attitudes media use selective exposure news avoidance audience polarization |
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