Practices of Media Consumption in the US and UK

Dresden
The next session is a panel facilitated by Nick Coundry, which presents findings from a comparative study of media consumption practices and their effects on public connection. If voter turnout at national elections is low and in decline, and if simultaneously citizen and participatory media rises, does this lead to a greater fragmentation of media audiences and the overall citizenry? What does it feel like to be a citizen-consumer in this media environment?

First off, there still is a sense of 'public connection', an orientation of citizens towards public issues - but at the same time, this is severely altered by the changing, convergent media environment. What, indeed, constitutes the public/private distinction - it surely still exists, but in what form, and where? The UK side of this project worked with written and taped diaries, interviews, and focus groups across the UK - from this, various patterns emerged: there is a range from media world connectors to public world connectors - for the former: the sense of being a member of the media audience is the key factor, while for the letter there is a sense of connection with the public beyond the media alone. The former is not necessarily a lack, however, as there may still remain a strong family connection or other factors.

There may be various possible factors here. Some people are only weakly connected because of external factors (e.g. time pressures); some are connected mainly through their interest in specific media aspects (e.g. Big Brother or football fandom); at the same time, the level of importance placed in connection is also vastly different between individuals, and this may be rationalised using various explanations by different individuals. But then, the lack of connection can also be felt as a real shortcoming and can lead to doubts in democracy itself.

A further quantitative study was also conducted, which generated some fairly detailed and complex information. This checked people's democratic engagement (through voting, political interest, and direct action) against various predictive and social factors. Media consumption or more specifically news consumption did little to drive such engagement - news commitment (a more committed following of the news) did emerge as a reasonably important factor, however. As a conclusion, then, the story for different forms of political engagement is quite different. Overall, it appears important to disaggregate the media into specific forms in such studies.

On the US side of things, the researchers stress that the moment within the election cycle at which studies are connected also needs to be recognised as an important factor. Some of the findings here included that people moved fairly seemlessly between different (especially online and offline) media forms (partly as a result of the greater Internet use in the US). Indeed, the distinctions between where information was found are beginning to blur, especially in the case of multi-media news organisations like CNN. Trust of the media (fairness, balance and accuracy) also emerged as an important factor, especially in the wake of the many US news media scandals of recent times. A significant percentage of citizens believe that the media are biased - and there remains a strong feeling that the ideal of objectivity in news coverage can still be attained, and citizens would prefer using unbiased news media. Internet sites such as Votesmart.com were sought out as a corrective to perceived bias in the news media. (In fact, the study found a significant difference in ration of positive against negative comments about the media when comparing old and new media - many people had far more negative views of the traditional, old media than of new media.) This may also point to a relatively sophisticated understanding of news processes in old media, and a more limited understanding of new media.

Interestingly, too, the study documented a good deal of election burnout, with interest in election matters declining sharply from the week of the US election onwards. There is also a notable difference between public participation between the US and UK studies - in the US, public participation remains much more prevalent, and people engaged in discussions about contentious issues in politics with people outside the family. Americans are not apolitical in nature, therefore - but does the political system ask people to be citizens? Mistrust of the media does not preclude civic engagement, too.

Finally to the ethnographic component of the US study: this focussed especially on the spaces in which political discussion appeared to happen. In addition to bible studies groups, which were also investigated, the study examined an African-American women's hair salon (where the TV was constantly running and Oprah was a key feature of media consumption) as well as a fast food restaurant (which was comparatively media-poor). This study added further important background to the role of media in agenda-setting for political discussion, and helped problematise the question of what constitutes political and public engagement.

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