The Media and Searching for Political Information

Abstract

Using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), it is possible to examine the way in which the citizens of a number of European countries search for information, in particular information about politics. Attention will be drawn to several noteworthy features of these practices, using a systematic synthesis of the following three levels of analysis:

• a comparison of different attitudes toward the three different information media being studied (television, radio and the press), based on the survey’s results regarding the amount of time participants in the survey spent using each medium (participants were asked to choose one of four options ranging from “never” to “a long time”);

• a comparison of these practices between the seven countries chosen for the survey;

• an examination of the way age and educational level impacted on media consumption practices, as well as the relation between these practices and the following four political variables: the level of interest in politics the interviewee claimed to have, their degree of politicization,¹ whether they exercised their right to vote, and the ability to formulate a political opinion.