Internet and Television Are Not Substitutes for Seeking Political Information

Abstract

Internet news consumption is growing and television news viewership is decreasing; however, online news is not a substitute for television news. This study found motives for seeking political information from television and the Internet to be information-seeking, entertainment, civic duty, and social utility. In seeking political information, audiences use Internet and television in conjunction as supplements or complements, rather than as substitutes. Multiple regression analysis showed that information-seeking and social utility predicted television use, and information-seeking and civic duty predicted Internet use.

Keywords:

• Functional Alternatives
• Internet
• Politics
• Television
• Uses and Gratifications

Notes

^a Statement loaded on information-seeking factor for Internet—social utility factor created for Internet.

^b Statement did not load on television.

^c Statement did not load on Internet.

Note. TV INFO = television information-seeking motive; TV ENT = television entertainment motive; TV SOC = television social utility motive; TV CIV = television civic duty motive; INT INFO = Internet information-seeking motive; INT ENT = Internet entertainment motive; INT SOC = Internet social utility motive; INT CIV = Internet civic duty motive.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

*p < .05. **p < .001.

These rules were violated for one motive statement retained on television's Factor 1. The motive statement, “to keep up with the main issues of the day,” had a primary loading of .54 and a secondary loading of .32. However, the statement conceptually made sense with Factor 1, information-seeking, and did not affect the reliability of the factor.

Originally, these statements loaded on Internet Factor 1, information-seeking; however, the statements had a high reliability (α = .85) as their own factor, social utility, and did not reduce the reliability of the information-seeking factor (α = .95) when moved to a fourth factor.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Brubaker

Jennifer Brubaker (PhD, Kent State University, 2005) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina–Wilmington.