Explaining Media Choice: The Role of Issue-Specific Engagement in Predicting Interest-Based and Partisan Selectivity
Abstract
This study analyzes the predictors of 2 types of media selectivity: interest-based (i.e., choice of entertainment over politics) and partisan (i.e., choice of pro-attitudinal over counter-attitudinal or balanced news). Relying on a large survey-based experiment, we find that issue-specific engagement variables, including perceived issue understanding, issue importance, and issue attitude strength, predict interest-based and partisan selectivity above and beyond the influence of general political knowledge, news interest, and strength of political leanings. These results show that the drivers of selectivity are more complex than general political attributes; rather, they are contextual and reflect people’s engagement with particular issues.
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Although people do not necessarily avoid attitude-discrepant messages, attitude-consistent messages that resonate with them and confirm their desired conclusions are more likely to be preferred.
“Although people do not necessarily avoid attitude-discrepant messages (Ahn et al., 2014;Beam, 2014;Garrett et al., 2013), it is more likely that attitude-consistent messages that resonate with them and confirm their desired conclusions are preferred (Feldman et al., 2018;Gentzkow & Shapiro, 2011;Stroud, 2011).”
From Do Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political Polarization (2020) · cites this paper as Feldman et al., 2018
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- Authors
- Feldman, L., Wojcieszak, M., Stroud, N. J., & Bimber, B.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-01-02
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 109-130
- ISSN
- 0883-8151 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-6878
- OpenAlex
- W2794085994
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 7.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
- Research Projects Support Programme of Junta de Castilla y Leon, Spain
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- media selectivity, entertainment news, news interest, issue importance, political knowledge, political orientation, news consumption
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