THE DIFFERENCE MEDIA MAKE

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THE DIFFERENCE MEDIA MAKE

• NICK COULDRY

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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• Media Consumption and the Future of Public
  Connection
• Funded under ESRC/ AHRB Cultures of Consumption
  Programme Oct03-Mar06
• Nick Couldry, Sonia Livingstone, Tim Markham, LSE
• Aim to explore 2 common assumptions
• 1. existence of shared orientation to public
  world (public connection)
• 2. public connection sustained by media
  consumption
• Methods Diaries (pre- and post-interviews,
  focus groups) survey (1000 respondents)
• Diarists sample 37 recruited early 2004
• Gender close to 50/50 Male/ female
• Age 18-69
• Class good range from A to E, but AB
  overrepresented, D difficult to recruit
• Ethnicity 9 non-white out of 37 (5
  Afro-Caribbean, 3 south Asian, 1 mixed ethnicity)
• 6 Regions poor inner city London mid-income
  suburban London poor urban South England 2
  mid-high income North England suburbs
  mixed-income rural Midlands

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SURVEY ANALYSIS NEWS ENGAGEMENT AND POLITICAL
INTEREST

• News engagement defined as
• Average of five responses (coded 1disagree
  strongly to 5agree strongly)
• Its a regular part of my day to catch up with
  the news
• I follow the news to understand whats going on
  in the world
• I follow the news to know what other people are
  talking about
• Its my duty to keep up with whats going on in
  the world
• I have a pretty good understanding of the main
  issues facing our country
• (standardised alpha of scale 0.71)
• . . . and important among factors predicting
  interest in politics
• Demographic (age, class, gender) R-squared0.07,
  plt0.005
• Social capital / local involvement
  R-squared0.05, plt0.005
• Media (news engagement, lack of celebrity
  interest, media not irrelevant) R-squared0.05,
  plt0.005
• (Total variance explained 17)

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News Engagement Principal Predictors

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Disengagement Scale Principal Predictors

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(No Transcript)
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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• Mediated public connection (media consumption
  patterns public
• orientation)
• No single ideal type
• Diarists where media connection or public
  connection stronger
• I start off the day with Radio 2 . . . and Im
  reading the papers by that
• stage while Im breakfasting . . . And then
  because I catch the bus into work
• and theres a local free paper that you get . .
  which is the Metro which Im sure
• everybody has around the country . . . and that
  has just soundbites . . . and sort
• of pictures from all over the place . . . But
  again it sets you up.
• Do you follow up these stories?
• Some of them yeah . . . well a lot of them you
  catch them . . . its mentioned
• several times throughout the day . . . and its
  seeped into your
• consciousness anyway. (Henry, 52, works in
  insurance, northern suburb)

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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• I read the business section of The Times
  everyday and I read all of it,
• partially because Im interested and theres
  people who I still know . . . And Im
• just interested in what happens to the financial
  world in general, just to see
• whats developing. And Im . . . interested in
  the country and the politics of
• the country and so forth. And worldwide events.
  I like to keep up to date and
• see whats going on. (John, retd financial
  services chief exec, Northern suburb)
• Distanced? Diarists for whom neither media nor
  world of public issues salient
• Negative factors lack of time for media/ media
  access less
• important than disillusion/distance/alternative
  values.
• Some factors (lack of efficacy in political
  matters) may be partly
• compensated by media consumption others (alt
  values) may not.
• Positive factors celebrity interest, work,
  collective solidarity, personal
• values
• Feedback loops through social expectations and
  individual values

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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• The personal value of following news
• I need the radio 24 hours. Like regular 24 hours
  because all the time in car, I listen radio
• news and everything. . . . the news all the
  time, every hour I have to listen to news just
• to find it out whats happening. (Ashok, 47,
  garage manager)
• Yeah, Ive always felt that anyway that you need
  to know whats going on all over the
• world. (Kylie, 24, unemployed, inner city
  London)
• Im compulsive, I have to pick up any paper that
  I see and have a look through it. (Enid,
• 62, retired school assistant, London suburb)
• What I find quite astonishing really that most
  people I know really just dont care about
• whats going on. Theyre focused on their own
  thing and as long as they know that
• David Beckhams had a new hair cut and that they
  can go and get it done at the salon
• just like this, . . . they just carry on with
  stuff. (Josh, 24, trainee architect, northern
• suburb)

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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• but value of keeping up with the news may be
  absent
• I mainly pick the news up from the internet or
  radio news and I think well
• should I be more aware and what difference does
  it make in the world whether
• I am or not, and sometimes I think I should but
  (quietly) Im not (laughs) (Beccy,
• 27, marketing executive, Northern suburb).
• I think theres a hell of a lot of choice out
  there and I think, I more think its up
• to me to go and find out and be informed. . . .
  I think everybody would have
• their own line. My cynical friend would say
  that you know everybody should
• be obligated to know about politics and everybody
  should use their vote
• responsibly because hes really into that, so
  thats what his line would be.
• Whereas me, . . . I dont know where my line
  would be because I know I look
• at a lot celebrity news but thats not important
  and I wouldnt say people were
• obliged to know about that at all. But certain
  things in my head I think I
• should be obliged to know about Im not. (Beccy)

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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• Underlying orientation frames including family,
  work, social, education,
• media as social connection individual
  routine.
• Social/family frame the most associated with
  lack of mediated public connection.
• Talk
• At lunchtime, female name (the other half of
  the marketing team) and I did some web
• surfing to catch up on the news. We like anything
  light-hearted and diverting to entertain
• us, especially when were so busy. I was checking
  out Courtney Loves latest adventures
• on nme.com, and she was checking out Ananova for
  celebrity gossip. (Beccy)
• Ive discussed a lot at the magistrates. I
  usually go down and get there about half an
• hour before the court starts and everyone has a
  cup of coffee and you have a chat and
• theres about an hour and a half over lunch time
  and inevitably you lunch and generally
• talk to the people youve been sitting with. You
  get a good cross section of views there
• cause theres all sorts of people magistrates.
  Its very interesting to hear peoples views.
• (John)

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THE PUBLIC CONNECTION PROJECT

• Democracy
• theres really very little an individual can do.
  In fact, nothing that an individual
• can do. I could feel as strongly as I like about
  an issue and my wifes always
• complaining that I do feel strongly about an
  issue and do nothing about it
• because theres nothing you can do about it. Well
  I suppose I could do, I could
• stand in the middle of the city and spout but
  nobodys take a bit of notice,
• would they? (John, Northern suburb focus group,
  January 2005).
• Its all right having a duty and following things
  but is there an action at the end
• of it? For some people if there isnt then whats
  the point? Im not saying thats
• my view but you could put that forward, is there
  a point if theres nothing at the
• end of it? (Sheila, Midlands rural focus group,
  December 2004)
• Media consumption and the (missing)
  action-context of neoliberal
• democracies

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www.publicconnection.org
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Disengagement Scale

• disengagement defined as average of responses
  (on 1-5 scale) to
• following
• Theres no point in watching the news, because it
  deals with things you can do nothing about
• Politics has little connection with my life
• It doesnt really matter which party is in power,
  in the end things go on pretty much the same
• Sometimes politics seems so complicated that I
  really cant understand whats going on
• I often feel that theres too much media, so I
  need to switch off
• (standardised alpha 0.59)