Percentage of public-affairs topics in the most newsworthy and most viewed stories on The Times (UK), The Guardian (UK), El Mundo (Spain), El País (Spain), Reforma (Mexico), El Universal (Mexico), Der Tagesspiegel (Germany), Die Welt (Germany), Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), La Nación (Argentina), Clarín (Argentina), Chicago Tribune (USA), CNN (USA), Seattle PI (USA), and Yahoo News (USA).
The sites of major media organizations—CNN, USA Today, the Guardian, and others—provide the public with much of the online news they consume. But although a large proportion of the top stories these sites disseminate cover politics, international relations, and economics, users of these sites show a preference (as evidenced by the most viewed stories) for news about sports, crime, entertainment, and weather. In this book, Pablo Boczkowski and Eugenia Mitchelstein examine this gap and consider the implications for the media industry and democratic life in the digital age.
Drawing on analyses of more than 50,000 stories posted on twenty news sites in seven countries in North and South America and Western Europe, Boczkowski and Mitchelstein find that the gap in news preferences exists regardless of ideological orientation or national media culture. They show that it narrows in times of heightened political activity (including presidential elections or government crises) as readers feel compelled to inform themselves about public affairs but remains wide during times of normal political activity. Boczkowski and Mitchelstein also find that the gap is not affected by innovations in Web-native forms of storytelling such as blogs and user-generated content on mainstream news sites. Keeping the account of the news gap up to date, in the book’s coda they extend the analysis through the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Drawing upon these findings, the authors explore the news gap’s troubling consequences for the matrix that connects communication, technology, and politics in the digital age.
“By analyzing news as a dynamic system, Boczkowski and Mitchelstein can analyze the gap between
the preferences of producers and consumers of news, show why that matters for a democratic nation,
and discuss how we might address the risks associated with that gap.”
—Clay Shirky, Associate Professor, New York University
“Boczkowski and Mitchelstein use a fascinating methodology to explore a digital-content divide
they argue mirrors profoundly different preferences between news creators and news users. The News
Gap looks at enduring questions in important new ways. It will surely spark terrific arguments
about what stories journalists should tell—and how they should tell them—in an age where audience
analytics reign.”
—Joseph Turow, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
“Boczkowski and Mitchelstein fill an important gap in our knowledge of how news markets really work.
Through analyses spanning twenty news sites in seven countries, they elegantly and effectively
describe the discrepancies between the stories news sites feature prominently and the stories
consumers actually choose to read, comment on, and share.”
—James T. Hamilton, Professor of Communication, Stanford University
¿Por qué leemos las notas que leemos? (Chequeado, 2015)
"POR SI LAS MOSCAS: Gustos vs Medios" (el Vigía, México, 2015)
Momento crucial para el periodismo (La Nación, Arg. Oct. 2014)
Las noticias más leídas son las más livianas (Perfil, Arg. Sept. 2014)
Interview with MDZ Radio (Argentina, October 2014)
Votamos con desinterés y una memoria parcial (La Nación, Argentina, Octubre 2015)
The News Gap: Rethinking the Role of Local News (Democracy Apps, June 2014)
The market for political news disappears (Nieuwe Reporter, Netherlands, Jan 2014)
Paying more attention to the public (Predictions for news and journalism in 2014, Nieman Lab, US)
User-Generated Content: Don´t Believe the Hype (Ozy, US, December 2014)
A Junk News Diet (U.S. News and World Report, October 2013)
An Occasionally Informed Public Misses Too Much (Huffington Post, November 2013)
Interview with Esteban Peicovich (Radio Ciudad, Argentina, December 2013)
Interview with Sean Moncrieff (NewsTalk Radio, Ireland, November 2013)
La Brecha entre los Periodistas y los Lectores (El País, Spain, Nov 2013)
La pérdida de una agenda común perjudica a la democracia (La Nación, Argentina, Dec 2013)
Reseña revista América Latina Hoy, por Mara Pegoraro (2015)
Review by Wiebke Loosen, Digital Journalism, August 2014
Wither (ing) Journalism? Review by Victor Pickard (July 2014)
Book Review at LSE Media Policy Project Blog (June 2014)
Review by Earl H. Perkins, atv Thursday Review, February 2014