TY - JOUR
T1 - The seeds of audience fragmentation
T2 - Specialization in the use of online news sites
AU - Tewksbury, David
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by the UIUC Campus Research Board at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - Contemporary normative concerns that the Internet might fragment national audiences and polities are based on suggestions that the medium is particularly conducive to specialized use. However, relatively little quantitative research has explicitly examined this contention. This study evaluates outlet specialization within the context of online news reading. Analyses of news viewing by a nationally representative panel of Internet users reveal that the user demographic profiles of news sites are individually distinct. More important, the topics that readers view vary by the sites they access. In sum, the provision of news over the Internet exhibits ample signs of outlet specialization.
AB - Contemporary normative concerns that the Internet might fragment national audiences and polities are based on suggestions that the medium is particularly conducive to specialized use. However, relatively little quantitative research has explicitly examined this contention. This study evaluates outlet specialization within the context of online news reading. Analyses of news viewing by a nationally representative panel of Internet users reveal that the user demographic profiles of news sites are individually distinct. More important, the topics that readers view vary by the sites they access. In sum, the provision of news over the Internet exhibits ample signs of outlet specialization.
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U2 - 10.1207/s15506878jobem4903_5
DO - 10.1207/s15506878jobem4903_5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33745035649
SN - 0883-8151
VL - 49
SP - 332
EP - 348
JO - Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
JF - Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
IS - 3
ER -