[Media-watch] The impact of the Internet on US political awareness

[John Meed]

Hi Mediawatch

A report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the University of
Michigan School of Information has looked at the impact of the Internet on
political awareness during the US election campaign. The main findings are:

The internet is contributing to a wider awareness of political views during
this year¹s campaign season.

At a time when political deliberation seems extremely partisan and when
people may be tempted to ignore arguments at odds with their views, internet
users are not insulating themselves in information echo chambers. Instead,
they are exposed to more political arguments than non-users.

While all people like to see arguments that support their beliefs, internet
users are not limiting their information exposure to views that buttress
their opinions. Instead, wired Americans are more aware than non-internet
users of all kinds of arguments, even those that challenge their preferred
candidates and issue positions.

Some of the increase in overall exposure merely reflects a higher level of
interest in politics among internet users. However, even when we compare
Americans who are similar in interest in politics and similar in demographic
characteristics such as age and education, our main findings still hold.
Internet users have greater overall exposure to political arguments and they
also hear more challenging arguments.

You can download the report at:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/141/report_display.asp

John