Event Date
Beyond Preferences: The Myth of the Niche (News) Audiences
Dr. Harsh Taneja
Abstract
Communication research has long prioritized how people’s preferences and individual proclivities shape their media choices. This extends to theories of news consumption, including that partisan news consumption is a niche phenomena. I argue instead that most niche genres of consumption including partisan news and misinformation is driven by heavy users, who have wider exposure to all kinds of content, presumably due to higher availability for media. Building on a series of ongoing empirical studies investigating news and information consumption in the world’s two largest democracies, this talk demonstrates the necessity of
more structural explanations for media consumption.
Bio
Harsh Taneja is interested in how people consume media. He teaches and researches about media audiences, an area that is relevant to all media majors and beyond, regardless of whether they want to pursue advertising, journalism or media studies. His teaching draws on contemporary and historical conversations about media metrics, data and AI. Before becoming an academic researcher, Harsh has worked in the global media and advertising industry, including as an audience researcher at the Global News Division of the BBC.
Zoom: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/s/97448077707
This series
The Department of Communication Brown Bag Series is a regular meeting for developments in Communication and related disciplines, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Communication. It is held at noon on most Thursdays during the academic year.