|
Abstract:
|
People sometimes use heuristics, or information shortcuts, in order to form opinions on substantial political matters rather than taking the time and effort to become fully informed. General political knowledge is the type of information used in heuristics, and is also associated with knowledge of more substantive political issues. This analysis will address the American news industry's ability to supply general political information by predicting the time and effort a citizen must put forth in order to increase their knowledge. This study uses data from the 2006 Biennial Media Consumption Survey, sponsored by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. It finds that even a small commitment of time spent consuming news is strongly and significantly associated with higher levels of political knowledge. In addition, the Internet is the only news format that remained significant no matter how many other formats were used with it, and it also had a strong effect. This reinforces the idea of the Internet as being an effective supplement to other formats. These findings suggest that equitable access to the Internet is an important consideration in regard to maintaining a citizenry with higher levels of general political knowledge. |