What are the effects of news avoidance on belonging to different publics and on political participation? And to what extent do these dynamics contribute to the fragmentation of public spheres? This study examines the effects of different practices of news avoidance on individuals‘ public connection.
The focus is on the question of how different forms of news avoidance – such as consistently low news consumption or the selective avoidance of certain topics in news coverage – may hinder or even foster political participation in Germany. Moreover, the study investigates the role of individuals’ belonging to specific topic publics united by a strong interest in a topic area (e.g. sports, environment) in this process. In doing so, the study builds on the concept of Public Connection Repertoires developed at the HBI.
In collaboration with GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, the study analyzes data from the GESIS Panel.dbd Digital Behavioral Data Sample, a combination of web tracking data and survey data. The integrative combination of digital behavioral data with self-reported data allows for the compensation of potential biases in survey data, thereby ensuring a more comprehensive measurement of individual news avoidance practices. Thus, the study aims not only to make a valuable contribution to the state of research on individual practices of news avoidance and its effects, but also to further develop methodological approaches to research on digital news consumption.
Image: AI-generated
