Intellect

Authors:  Steve Schifferes And  Wainer Lusoli And  Stephen Ward 
DOI: 10.1386/nl.7.51_1

Keywords
Internet, online media, political communication, media and democracy

Abstract
This article examines the role of online news consumption in the 2005 UK General Election. In particular, it uses public opinion survey data and log file data from the BBC News Election website to assess: (1) the growth and patterns in online news consumption; (2) the ways in which website visitors' consume online news; (3) the potential links between online news consumption and political participation and voter turnout. The data indicates that although online news consumption is still a minority interest, it is growing rapidly but as part of a wider news diet. In terms of the online news audience, a minority of politically interested and engaged citizens are using online sources to supplement and increase their political information. However the majority of online news surfers tend to either use it on a one-off occasion or for irregular monitoring of the campaign.