Political News Avoidance, Selective Exposure, and Misinformation

Information Threats and Opportunities in Contemporary Digital Democracies
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-96614-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 140 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm

Reihe: Routledge Focus on Journalism Studies

Drawing on primary empirical research, this book considers the democratic outcomes of political news avoidance, selective news exposure, and misinformation.

Political information environments across democracies are in flux, fundamentally changing the way citizens gain political information and leading to widespread concerns about consequences for democracy. From selective media use leading to increased attitudinal polarisation, to declining trust in legacy media and journalists compounding political disengagement, the need for a detailed, comparative account of what these changes in the supply of, and demand for, political information mean for democracies is evident. This book focuses on three developments that are seen as particularly concerning for democracies: news avoidance, selective news exposure, and misinformation. Using in-depth interviews, webtracking,
panel surveys, and experiments, it investigates the extent of these threats, their causes, consequences, and remedies. Further, it shines a critical empirical light, for the first time, on these developments across four different types of democracies found in countries around Europe as well as Israel and the US. The results of the study are nuanced and context specific, with the authors finding generally that the prevalence of these three developments may be less than previously anticipated.

This is a critical study for researchers and advanced students of journalism and political communication and bears global implications.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stanyer, James

Hopmann, David Nicolas

Stepinska, Agnieszka

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Journalismus & Presse
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikation & Medien in der Politik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Contributors

List of Figures

List of Tables

Introduction: Understanding the Transformation of Democratic Political Information Environments and the Consequences
James Stanyer, David Nicolas Hopmann, and Agnieszka Stepinska

Chapter 1: Political Information Environments in Flux: A Cross-National Multi-Method Research Approach
David Nicolas Hopmann, Isabella Glogger, James Stanyer, and Agnieszka Stepinska

Chapter 2: Selective Exposure to Political News: A Threat to Democracy in Today’s Digital World?
Agnieszka Stepinska, Patrick van Erkel, Alberto Martinez-Serra, and Ana S. Cardenal

Chapter 3: News Avoidance: A Threat to Democracy in Today’s Digital World?
Isabella Glogger, Agnieszka Stepinska, Christine Meltzer, and Luisa Gehle

Chapter 4. Dis- and Misinformation: a threat to democracy in today’s digital world?
Luisa Gehle, Patrick van Erkel, Denis Halagiera, Nicoleta Corbu, and Alberto Martinez-Serra

Chapter 5. The Threats and Realities of a Changing Political Information Environment: Taking Stock of the Findings and Exploring Potential Remedies
James Stanyer, Christine Meltzer, Isabella Glogger, and David Nicolas Hopmann

Index

Über Autor(innen)

James Stanyer is Professor of Communication and Media Analysis at the Department of Communication and Media, Loughborough University, UK, and Director of Loughborough’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture.

David Nicolas Hopmann is Professor of Political Communication at the Centre for Journalism and the Digital Democracy, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.

Agnieszka Stepinska is a Professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.