Convergence Across Divergence: Understanding the Gap in the Online News Choices of Journalists and Consumers in Western Europe and Latin America

Abstract

This article contributes to understanding whether there is a thematic gap between journalists' and consumers' preferences, and whether the media converge or diverge across nations. The concurrent news choices of journalists and consumers in 11 online newspapers from six countries in Western Europe and Latin America were examined. A comparison of the most prominently displayed stories on the homepages of each of these sites and the most frequently clicked stories on these sites shows a pattern of convergence across divergence: A thematic gap in the online news choices of journalists and consumers that is shared by all sites despite different levels of preference for public affairs reportage (news about political, economic, and international topics). The theoretical implications and social relevance of these findings are discussed.

The digital and social media journalist: A comparative analysis of journalists in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru

“…The comparative media analysis method used in this study helps to show not only the similarities, but also the differences between countries. This is a method that has been used in several studies of journalists across the globe (Boczkowski et al, 2011;Deuze, 2002;Hanitzsch, 2011;Hanitzsch and Mellado, 2011;Hanitzsch et al, 2010aHanitzsch et al, , 2010bHenningham, 1996;Mellado et al, 2012;Weaver, 1998;Zhu et al, 1997).…”

Política y pelotas: los intereses temáticos de los usuarios de sitios de noticias líderes en argentina en 2016

“…Otra tendencia, por el contrario, sugiere que el público no suele estar tan interesado en los asuntos públicos como los periodistas. Existen estudios empíricos que apoyan esta úl-tima corriente desde hace décadas (Bird, 2003;Boczkowski et al, 2011Graber, 1984Hagen, 1994;Hamilton, 2004, Hollihan, 2001Prior, 2007;Tewksbury 2003). Sus hallazgos se encuentran en línea con el concepto de "ignorancia racional" de Downs (1957), que explica que los ciudadanos no invierten recursos en informarse sobre un tema cuando consideran que el costo de hacerlo es más alto que los beneficios percibidos de esa actividad.…”

Mass Media, Journalism, Society, and Culture

“…The gap results from the high level of public affairs news on the journalists' lists and the much lower level of that content on the consumers' lists. News audiences are more interested in nonpublic affairs stories such as entertainment (Boczkowski et al 2010 ).…”