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Mobile News Consumption and Its Relation to Young Adults' Knowledge About and Participation in Referendums
[journal article]
Abstract The news media are among the most important sources of information about political events, such as referendums. For young adults, the smartphone has become the main device for accessing news. However, we know little about the factors influencing mobile news consumption and how this consumption is re... view more
The news media are among the most important sources of information about political events, such as referendums. For young adults, the smartphone has become the main device for accessing news. However, we know little about the factors influencing mobile news consumption and how this consumption is related to political knowledge and political participation. This study investigates the antecedents of young individuals’ smartphone news consumption and how it is correlated with their knowledge about and participation in two referendums in Switzerland. We record the mobile internet usage of 309 young adults and link their digital trace data to survey data. We show that trust in news media and the use of broadcast media are positively correlated with the duration of mobile news consumption. The use of social media leads to more news source diversity. However, we find that the duration of mobile news consumption and news source diversity are not correlated with political knowledge about or participation in the referendum. As interest in politics is also positively correlated with the diversity of news sources used by individual participants, our study supports the idea that attentive audiences use a broader range of news sources to inform themselves about referendums.... view less
Keywords
news; young adult; political participation; referendum; media consumption; cell phone; Internet; social media; broadcasting; voting behavior
Classification
Interactive, electronic Media
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Broadcasting, Telecommunication
Free Keywords
mobile news consumption; news media; political knowledge
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 6-18
Journal
Media and Communication, 11 (2023) 1
Issue topic
Referendum Campaigns in the Digital Age
ISSN
2183-2439
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed