When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap

The digital media environment, transformed by the increase in multiplatform content, reflects a growing divergence of news interests between the journalistic agenda set by the media and the real preference of audiences. This difference in criteria forces the media to compete for the attention of a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alba Diez-Gracia, Pilar Sánchez-García
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de Navarra 2025-03-01
Series:Communication & Society (Formerly Comunicación y Sociedad)
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/51002
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849692864352616448
author Alba Diez-Gracia
Pilar Sánchez-García
author_facet Alba Diez-Gracia
Pilar Sánchez-García
author_sort Alba Diez-Gracia
collection DOAJ
description The digital media environment, transformed by the increase in multiplatform content, reflects a growing divergence of news interests between the journalistic agenda set by the media and the real preference of audiences. This difference in criteria forces the media to compete for the attention of a fragmented and detached public by combining current news topics with other soft, spectacular or curious topics on their agenda. The international scientific literature has referred to this phenomenon as a “news gap,” although in a dispersed manner and with a lack of systematisation in its study. This paper addresses this phenomenon through meta-research, a systematic review and content analysis based on the Prisma model (N=901), with the aim of offering its conceptualisation and evolution in the academic literature from its beginnings in 2010 to 2023. The results compile the research and contributions on the news gap from the perspective of the media that produce content on demand, not always following journalistic relevance or criteria, and the audiences that consume and disseminate it. It is an object of study barely a decade old which, although not integrated in its approaches and methods and with the absence of a standardised model to address it systematically, confirms a structural, multi-platform and multi-support gap that manifests itself as an open and expanding area of study, pointing to the loss of attention of a fragmented audience on the most relevant journalistic selection in a process of disintermediation.
format Article
id doaj-art-26f4be0e30f64d4b8e793f77ca9cadf6
institution DOAJ
issn 2386-7876
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Universidad de Navarra
record_format Article
series Communication & Society (Formerly Comunicación y Sociedad)
spelling doaj-art-26f4be0e30f64d4b8e793f77ca9cadf62025-08-20T03:20:35ZengUniversidad de NavarraCommunication & Society (Formerly Comunicación y Sociedad)2386-78762025-03-0138110.15581/003.38.1.014When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gapAlba Diez-Gracia0Pilar Sánchez-García1Universidad de ValladolidUniversidad de Valladolid The digital media environment, transformed by the increase in multiplatform content, reflects a growing divergence of news interests between the journalistic agenda set by the media and the real preference of audiences. This difference in criteria forces the media to compete for the attention of a fragmented and detached public by combining current news topics with other soft, spectacular or curious topics on their agenda. The international scientific literature has referred to this phenomenon as a “news gap,” although in a dispersed manner and with a lack of systematisation in its study. This paper addresses this phenomenon through meta-research, a systematic review and content analysis based on the Prisma model (N=901), with the aim of offering its conceptualisation and evolution in the academic literature from its beginnings in 2010 to 2023. The results compile the research and contributions on the news gap from the perspective of the media that produce content on demand, not always following journalistic relevance or criteria, and the audiences that consume and disseminate it. It is an object of study barely a decade old which, although not integrated in its approaches and methods and with the absence of a standardised model to address it systematically, confirms a structural, multi-platform and multi-support gap that manifests itself as an open and expanding area of study, pointing to the loss of attention of a fragmented audience on the most relevant journalistic selection in a process of disintermediation. https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/51002Agenda-settingnews gapaudience consumptiondigital journalismPRISMAsocial media
spellingShingle Alba Diez-Gracia
Pilar Sánchez-García
When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
Communication & Society (Formerly Comunicación y Sociedad)
Agenda-setting
news gap
audience consumption
digital journalism
PRISMA
social media
title When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
title_full When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
title_fullStr When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
title_full_unstemmed When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
title_short When digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda: conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
title_sort when digital audiences disregard the journalistic agenda conceptualization and evolution of the news gap
topic Agenda-setting
news gap
audience consumption
digital journalism
PRISMA
social media
url https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/51002
work_keys_str_mv AT albadiezgracia whendigitalaudiencesdisregardthejournalisticagendaconceptualizationandevolutionofthenewsgap
AT pilarsanchezgarcia whendigitalaudiencesdisregardthejournalisticagendaconceptualizationandevolutionofthenewsgap