ECREA |Pol. Comm. Interim Conf. Bucharest, March 26th-27th, 2021 [abstract template]
#Mitigatecorona: news repertoires and civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, put many countries under severe pressure, while citizens were urged to help ‘flatten the curve’ (Verelst et al., 2020). As to collectively mitigate the spread of the virus and provide help to those in need, Belgian citizens soon began to engage in an array of civic actions, such as sewing facemasks or changing their profile pictures on social network sites, urging others to stay inside.
The present study aims to shed light on the different types of civic participation that emerged after the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, we assess how different news use patterns (or news repertoires) are associated with various forms of civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. News media play a crucial role in motivating civic participation by informing citizens as well as creating awareness about ways to respond to current events (Eveland Jr et al., 2003).
Given our current high-choice, multi-platform news environment (Prior, 2007), scholars have pointed to the importance of audience-based research in order to map the different choices citizens make to keep informed (Schrøder, 2011). Moreover, these news repertoires are prone to change as information needs evolve, especially during crises and dramatic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Hasebrink & Hepp, 2017; Park & Avery, 2018).
An online survey was distributed among Flemish adults, using a stratified sampling procedure. In total, 1.500 adults (50.4% male; M age = 41.58, SD = 13.94) participated in the period April 17 to 19, 2020. Results from a cluster analysis revealed four distinct news use clusters, each differing in terms of intensity of news use, as well as diversity in news sources: news avoiders, news conservatives, news mixers and news absorbers. Furthermore, a series of ANOVAs revealed significant between-group differences concerning civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, news absorbers were more likely to engage in civic participation than any of the other groups. For instance, those with more intense and varied news use during the pandemic, were more likely to make donations, participate in civic meetings and engage in consumerism. Our findings add to previous research by addressing the association between news use and civic participation in a high-choice media environment, as well as during an unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these insights, policy makers and news media can adapt their strategies, as to keep citizens informed and engaged, especially during crises.
Key words
Civic participation; News repertoires; COVID-19; Collective action; Cluster analysis
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ECREA |Pol. Comm. Interim Conf. Bucharest, March 26th-27th, 2021 [abstract template]
References
Eveland Jr, W. P., Shah, D. V, & Kwak, N. (2003). Assessing causality in the cognitive
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Hasebrink, U., & Hepp, A. (2017). How to research cross-media practices? Investigating media repertoires and media ensembles. Convergence, 23(4), 362–377.
Park, S., & Avery, E. J. (2018). Effects of media channel, crisis type and demographics on audience intent to follow instructing information during crisis. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 26(1), 69–78.
Prior, M. (2007). Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections. Cambridge University Press.
https://books.google.be/books?id=o37mHuY7OWkC
Schrøder, K. C. (2011). Audiences are inherently cross-media: Audience studies and the cross- media challenge. CM Komunikacija i Mediji, 6(18), 5–27.
Verelst, F., Kuylen, E., & Beutels, P. (2020). Indications for healthcare surge capacity in European countries facing an exponential increase in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, March 2020. Eurosurveillance, 25(13), 2000323.
#Mitigatecorona: news repertoires and civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Cato Waeterloos, Department of Communication Sciences, imec-mict-Ghent University, Miriam Makebaplein 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Michel Walrave, Department of Communication Sciences, University of Antwerp, Sint- Jacobstraat 2, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Koen Ponnet, Department of Communication Sciences, imec-mict-Ghent University, Miriam Makebaplein 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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