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Which types of people aren’t big fans of “impartial” news? People who don’t have power
NiemanLab: “A new study finds that the poor, those with less education, young people, and women are less likely to prefer “impartial” news sources over those that align with their own views. Who actually wants impartial news? Your first thought might be: everybody! After all, if news is meant to be a reflection of reality, wouldn’t you want the least biased version of that reality — the one that matches up most with the world around you?
Even an outlet as partisan as Fox News understands the appeal of impartiality, branding itself “Fair and Balanced” for two decades. “Without Fear or Favor”; “Open to All Parties, but Influenced by None”; “All the News That’s Fit to Print”; “The Most Trusted Name in News”; “The Truth Is More Important Now Than Ever”: Each of these, in its own way, makes the claim that you’ll get the straight dope from our pages, print or digital. But we all know that people’s behavior doesn’t always line up with their stated preferences.
Most of the people who tune into cable news aren’t watching C-SPAN. And oceans of social science data have found that people prefer content that aligns with their own beliefs over content that doesn’t. What sorts of people are the most likely to prefer ideologically friendly content — not just prefer it but also say they prefer it? One potential lens is power: who has it and who doesn’t.
If you sit atop society’s food chain, perhaps you see impartial news as a potential threat — something that could mobilize the have-nots against you by exposing things you’d rather not have in the open. Or conversely, if you’re in a disadvantaged group, maybe you see “impartial” news as part of the existing power structure — telling stories that support the system that has left you at the bottom. That’s the question explored by an interesting new paper just published in the International Journal of Communication.
It’s titled “Who Wants Impartial News? Investigating Determinants of Preferences for Impartiality in 40 Countries,” and it’s by (deep breath) Camila Mont’Alverne (University of Strathclyde), Amy Ross A. Arguedas (Oxford), Sumitra Badrinathan (American), Benjamin Toff(Minnesota), Richard Fletcher (Oxford), and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (Copenhagen). Here’s the abstract:
Despite the centrality of impartiality for many journalistic cultures, and widespread support across audiences, there is still limited research about which aspects influence people’s preferences for impartial news. This article draws on survey data across 40 markets to investigate the factors shaping audience preferences for impartial news. Although most express a preference for impartial news, there are several overlapping groups of people who, probably for different reasons, are more likely to prefer news that shares their point of view: (a) the ideological and politically engaged; (b) young people, especially those who rely mainly on social media for news; (c) women; and (d) less socioeconomically advantaged groups. We find systematic patterns across countries in preferences for alternatives to impartial news with greater support in places where people use more different sources of news and that are ranked lower in terms of quality of their democracies…”