Are News Media Substitutes? Gratifications, Contents, and Uses

Richard van der Wurff

Journal of Media Economics, 2011, vol. 24, issue 3, 139-157

Abstract: Internet is generally expected to have one of two effects on traditional news media: It displaces them, or it forces them into distinct market niches. A shared assumption underlying both expectations is that news media displacement, or substitution, is a function of the degree to which news media are functional equivalents. This article explores this assumption from a niche theoretical perspective, using survey data from 2 student samples as illustrative cases. Findings indicate that, for these students, news media substitution does not depend on functional equivalence of media in providing gratifications and gratification opportunities or types of content. Post hoc analyses suggest instead that, for this particular audience, media use depends on habit and media accessibility. Follow-up studies should further investigate these relations for representative samples.

Date: 2011
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08997764.2011.601974 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jmedec:v:24:y:2011:i:3:p:139-157

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/HMEC20

DOI: 10.1080/08997764.2011.601974

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Media Economics is currently edited by Nodir Adilov

More articles in Journal of Media Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().