The Politics of Culture in Journalism: News Media Consumption Across Political and Cultural Public Spheres
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Scholarly discussions around the significance of journalism for democracy and the public sphere have traditionally centered on news and political journalism. Consequently, there is a dearth of studies on the role of politics in other journalistic subfields. This paper addresses this research gap by examining the democratic contribution of cultural journalism in Sweden. Drawing on public sphere theory and agonistic democracy theory and utilizing data from a nationwide Swedish survey (N = 1804), social variations in consumption are analyzed, including the types of content that motivate people to consume cultural journalism. Results indicate that age, education, and political preferences are important correlates in relation to high consumption of cultural journalism. Furthermore, the findings indicate that societal debate is a more significant driver of cultural journalism consumption than traditional aesthetic coverage. This underscores the distinctive democratic role of cultural journalism within the media landscape and its particular contribution to the diversity of journalistic content.
Source: Journalism and Media
Authors: Andreas Widholm, Anna Roosvall
Institution: Stockholm University
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,137
Funder: Vetenskapsrådet
OpenAlex ID: W4405737722