Publication
Title
Paying for news diversity? A topic diversity analysis of free and paywalled online news
Author
Abstract
Media companies increasingly place (parts of) their online news content behind to compensate for shrinking digital advertising revenues. However, despite its prominence in the contemporary news environment, very few studies have assessed the effects of this practice on the diversity in the actual content provided to people. To fill this knowledge gap in scholarship, this study examines how diverse free and paid content is in several newspapers in Flanders (Belgium). Using a topic classification model and quantitative analysis of 287,856 online news articles, we differentiate between paywalled and non-paywalled articles, popular and quality news brands, two distinct media corporations and two diversity benchmarks: open and reflective diversity. Our findings reveal that in most cases, online news content behind paywalls is indeed more diverse, although the differences with freely available articles are often minimal. We also find that quality news titles do not necessarily score higher on topic diversity than their popular counterparts. These findings are contextualised within the Flemish media market as well as existing scholarship.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journalism practice. - Abingdon, 2007, currens
Publication
Abingdon : Routledge , 2023
ISSN
1751-2786 [print]
1751-2794 [online]
DOI
10.1080/17512786.2023.2191863
Volume/pages
p. 1-20
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Publication type
Subject
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 22.02.2024
Last edited 22.02.2024
To cite this reference