Public Demand for a More Informative Press

Abstract

The political press is an essential institution of democracy. Scholars and practitioners alike have long been concerned with identifying ways that the news media can better provide valuable information about government and politics to the public, and ways to encourage more of the public to engage more deeply with the news. Yet in today's information environment, news organizations face difficult economic headwinds and a dwindling audience of direct consumers. These conditions encourage outlets to prioritize the preferences of their most consistent and engaged customers---whose self-perceived political expertise and strong partisan identities give them a taste for political coverage that is neither attractive nor informative for much of the American public. Though much of the media's political coverage ostensibly concerns issues of public import, the newsworthy substance is often rife with arcane political jargon, wrapped in narratives focused on political strategy and speculation, or buried behind digital frictions. In consequence, editorial decisions over not just what but how news outlets cover public affairs often make it rather challenging for most people to pay much attention. This dissertation makes the case that an alternative approach to political news coverage---one that is better grounded in the news media's public interest mission to inform---can help news organizations reach less-engaged consumers and better fulfill their normative purpose in democratic society. In contrast to long-standing industry (and scholarly) narratives, I argue that politics-as-entertainment is not the path to expanding the audience. Instead, political coverage that prioritizes accessibility and direct communication better serves disengaged Americans and encourages their news consumption.I use computational and experimental methods to establish four consequential stylized facts. First, several styles of news coverage that most appeal to high-volume news junkies dominate the current market for U.S. political news. Second, these dominant styles of news coverage are relatively unappealing for less politically engaged Americans. Instead, less-engaged Americans prefer a public interest approach that provides public affairs content up front and in a digestible format. Third, the dominant styles of political news coverage are less informative than the public interest style, imposing frictions on political learning from news exposure. Fourth, the dominant styles of political news have deleterious effects on political attitudes and public opinion, contributing to weaker support for democratic norms, weaker political self-efficacy, and greater news avoidance among the mass public. In short, this dissertation provides robust empirical evidence that there is a compelling public demand for a more informative press, and by meeting that under-served demand the news media can both directly benefit and better serve its purpose as an institution of democracy.