Everyday we are surrounded by tons of information and media. That being said, that doesn’t mean that we are getting a balanced set of views and opinions of what’s going on in the world. There are a lot of factors that go into the information that we consume everyday such as our social communities and personal habits.The concept of exposure diversity looks at the variety of information people are actually consuming (Moe et al., 2020).
Media Exposure is Not Always Equal: Exposure Diversity Explained
Despite people having access to a wide variety of media, not everyone is consuming the same information as each other. Exposure diversity dives into the difference in the media we are consuming as a whole what people are engaging with. Exposure diversity looks at the perspective of the consumer (Moe et al., 2020). It asks the question of whether or not people are being exposed to a variety of information and perspectives instead of only consuming information that contains the same opinions that is from the same sources. People are more likely being exposed to media that aligns with their values opposed to media that does not.
An article titled Partisan Paths to Exposure Diversity: Differences in Pro- and Counterattitudinal News Consumption states, “…the evidence that citizens’ news consumption privileges like-minded views over less consonant content is overwhelming” (Garrett, Stroud, 2014).
This quote is basically just agreeing with the idea that people are really only consuming news that aligns with what they already believe.
Behavioral vs. Structural Diversity in Media: Comparing Media Diversity
Media diversity is a concept that is similar to exposure diversity. Exposure diversity is behavioral whereas media diversity is structural. Exposure diversity is in the hands of the consumer. Media diversity is in the hands of the producers. It is the concept that their is ensured accessibility and availability of a wide variety of information and viewpoints that people are able to consume to help form their opinions and inform them (Brogi, 2020, p.1). Exposure diversity focuses on what is ACTUALLY being consumed and media diversity focuses on what COULD be consumed.
What We Learned About Exposure Diversity and Why it Matters
Our media habits are complex and comparing media diversity with exposure diversity exhibits that. It goes further than just having access to different types of media. It is important how people engage with different types of media and what they are exposed to in their daily lives. Exposure diversity emphasizes that media consumers are in charge of the information surrounding them more than they think. As media consumers we need to be mindful about our information consumption habits and make sure we remain intentional and diverse in what we seek out.
Keywords:
Exposure diversity, exposure, media diversity, behavioral, structural
References:
Brogi, E. (2020). The Media pluralism monitor: Conceptualizing media pluralism for the online environment. El Profesional de La Información, 29(5). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.sep.29
Garrett, R. K., & Stroud, N. J. (2014). Partisan Paths to Exposure Diversity: Differences in Pro- and Counterattitudinal News Consumption. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 680–701. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12105
Moe, H., Hovden, J. F., & Karppinen, K. (2020). Operationalizing exposure diversity. European Journal of Communication, 36(2), 148–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323120966849