Media Diversity Policies for the Public: Empirical Evidence Examining Exposure Diversity and Democratic Citizenship

The pursuit of media diversity as a policy goal finds its foundation in First Amendment values which assume that the public welfare requires broad dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources. Using 5 waves of panel data collected during the 2008 presidential campaign in the U.S., this article empirically examines the assumption that seeking diverse and antagonistic viewpoints reflects good citizenship. The results suggest that heavy consumption of liberal and conservative viewpoints together leads to higher levels of political knowledge, but suppresses political participation. The role of news media use in democratic citizenship might depend on quantity as well as on diversity.