News Selection

So what makes us choose the news media we seek out regularly? In a 2006 study, Hans M. Kepplinger and Simone C. Ehmig looked at the selection process by applying the two-component theory of news selection. First, they examined what made news. The worthiness of a story and how much attention that story gets is important to how that story is relayed to the public, i.e. front page or inside, a two-minute segment or the lead story of the nightly news. These factors are important to how the public perceives the message. They used the findings from the news selection process to then predict messenger selection. The study found that there is a link between how a news story ranks and the reception of that information by the audience (Kepplinger; 2006). So we find that at least in part, the events of the day and how they are ranked by gatekeepers play a role in audience selection of a news outlet.
Knowing that much of the population is not actively seeking news media makes the motivations of those who do a special interest. What draws an audience to a particular media outlet? In a 2007 study, motivations of media use were investigated. This study conducted a survey on a national level to determine what drives media selection. The study found that there was a link to psychological needs being met by news intake and that those needs directed media selection. The study also determined that media exposure is a direct influence on how much the audience member learns from the message sent. The study also found that exposure is associated with interest in current events (David; 2007).
A factor in determining the ideology of particular media is the advertising they have. Advertising and market groups have spent a great deal of energy and money to determine audience participation and behavior.
One study in particular looked at the way advertisements are viewed by liberals and conservatives. This study believed that the same product can be advertised to all audiences but it must cater to the specific audience of each media outlet. Researchers came up with liberal and conservative ads for four different products. Conservative ads were based on more traditionally conservative attitudes with reference to Republican politicians and conservative journals. The liberal ads were based on attitudes widely accepted as being liberal with reference to liberal journals and Democratic politicians. The study hypothesized that liberals would view liberal ads more favorably and the same would be true for conservatives. The study found that this was not always true and that in fact the ads were viewed and processed the same by both sides, whether a liberal viewed a liberal ad or conservative ad, and the same was true for conservatives. It would seem that products are accepted on the merit of the product rather than the particular advertisement or the audience’s ideology (Hise; 1972).