Open AccessExposure to news grows less fragmented with an increase in mobile access
Author(s) -
Yang Tian,
Sílvia Majó-Vázquez,
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen,
Sandra GonzálezBailón
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2006089117
Subject(s) - ideology , citizenship , internet privacy , democracy , the internet , political science , news media , selection (genetic algorithm) , social media , digital media , advertising , media studies , sociology , business , world wide web , politics , computer science , law , artificial intelligence
Significance Access to diverse news strengthens democratic citizenship. Whether digital technologies have narrowed or widened news diets fosters contentious debates. Previous research shows the abundance of digital news sources might be leading to more fragmented audiences, ideological segregation, and echo chambers. Our study resorts to an unprecedented combination of data to show that the increase in mobile access to news actually leads to higher exposure to diverse content and that ideological self-selection explains only a small percentage of co-exposure to news. We also find that more than half of Internet users in the United States do not use online news. Future research should avoid generalizations from desktop-only data and pay attention to the increasing divide between informed citizens and news avoiders.