Finally Informing the Electorate? How the Internet Got People Thinking about Presidential Politics in 2004

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that traditional and online news sources may differ with respect to their ability to inform audiences. In particular, there is tentative evidence that the hyperlink structure of online newspapers, for example, can promote a more in-depth understanding of political issues than traditional news media. The authors analyze data from the 2004 American National Election Studies (ANES) to test some of these relationships empirically. Specifically, the influence of traditional and Internet news sources on both differentiated and integrated political knowledge structures among citizens are examined. The findings reveal that users of online newspapers have higher levels of both integrated and differentiated knowledge, even after controlling for print newspaper and television use. Print newspaper use is only related to factual political knowledge, and television news use is unrelated to any of the measures of knowledge about the presidential campaign.