Online Segregation

The Seeds of Audience Fragmentation:

Specialization in the Use of Online

News Sites

Abstract: Contemporary normative concerns that the Internet might fragment nationalaudiences and polities are based on suggestions that the mediumis particularly conducive to specialized use. However, relatively littlequantitative research has explicitly examined this contention. Thisstudy evaluates outlet specialization within the context of online newsreading. Analyses of news viewing by a nationally representative panelof Internet users reveal that the user demographic profiles of news sitesare individually distinct. More important, the topics that readers viewvary by the sites they access. In sum, the provision of news over the

Internet exhibits ample signs of outlet specialization.

Bibliography:  

Tewksbury, David (2005) ‘The Seeds of Audience Fragmentation:

Specialization in the Use of Online News Sites’, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic

retrieved feb, 8 2008 from proquest database

Media, 49:3, 332 – 348

To link to this article: DOI: 10.1207/s15506878jobem4903_5

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4903_5

link to my slidehow