The Mix of Media Use Matters: Investigating the Effects of Individual News Repertoires on Offline and Online Political Participation

• In contemporary high-choice media environments, people increasingly mix and combine their use of various news media into personal news repertoires. Despite this, there is still limited research on how people compose their individual news repertoires and the effects of these news repertoires. To address this and further our understanding of how media use influences political participation, this study investigates (a) how people combine the use of offline and online media into personal news repertoires and (b) the effects of different news repertoires on both offline and online political participation. Based on a two-wave panel study covering the 2014 Swedish national election, this study identifies five news repertoires, labeled minimalists, public news consumers, local news consumers, social media news consumers, and popular online news consumers. Among other things, the results show that social media news consumers are more likely to participate in politics both offline and online.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Keyword

media effects

news consumption

political participation

social media

civic participation

consumption gaps

knowledge gaps

internet use

europe

communication

platforms

campaigns

metaanalysis

Communication

Government & Law

litical involvement and polarizes elections

p1

media effects

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)