Media poverty: media use and citizenship in conditions of deprivation

The media is a binding force between citizens and the world beyond their private sphere. Thus, people’s use of the media is a precondition for the enactment of informed and active citizenship. At the same time, poverty is systematically linked to disconnection from the public and political world, and to low political participation. For citizens who live in conditions of poverty, the consequences are crippled possibilities for civic agency and the reinforcement of marginalisation. For democracy, the civic withdrawal of this group challenges its legitimacy. We now lack knowledge about how conditions of poverty impact people’s use of the media. Policymaking stops short at measures of access to news, failing to address the real-life conditions of poverty. In consequence, we have a weak understanding of the problem at hand and insufficient strategies to promote active citizenship to all. In response to these challenges, this project will study media use and poverty through a multi-method, comparative design, using Norway as critical case. First, the project statistically maps media use patterns among poor citizens. Through a comprehensive qualitative research design, it then examines how media use is embedded in everyday conditions of poverty, and how these conditions afford public (dis)connection. Further, through a nationwide field experiment it tests causal relationships between access to news and electoral participation among disconnected citizens. Last, in collaboration with welfare institutions and poverty-stricken citizens themselves, it recommends measures that target the real-life barriers of citizens living in poverty. In the project we have thus far: -Completed extensive qualitative data collection. In total we have conducted 85 interviews of informants from three poverty stricken groups: sole providers, social assistance recipients, and Norwegian-Somalis. In terms of size and composition, this material is unique in Norway and internationally, and thus a highly promising source of knowledge and understanding of how media use forms part of life in poverty. We have already presented parts this work at several conferences (Norwegian, Nordic and global), we have arranged an international panel about media use and poverty at the ICA-conference, and are now about to publish several articles based on this material. - Completed the data collection to the quantitative charting of media use among poor citizens. First, we have collected all relevant available existing statistics. Thereafter we have together with the Municipality of Bergen developed survey batteries to Barnefamiliepanelet – a panel survey targeting socio-economically diverse families in west Norway. The panel survey is completed, we are now writing an article based on this material. - Established contact and collaborated with relevant stakeholders, including Bergen Municipality, Batteriet and Robin Hood-huset (poverty organizations) and Tusmo (organisations for Norwegian-Somalis). These stakeholders will be central in the process of developing proposals for policy measures later in the project. - Recruited a PhD-candidate, who since Jan 2022 have explored the use of social media among poverty stricken citizens. -Recruited a master student who in her thesis is exploring media use among irregular migrants. As part of the project we have published a journal article where we discuss how public service broadcasters can better target marginalized audiences. We have published an article about how anti-elitist audiences relate to mainstream media, and an article about how audiences navigate in different types of mediated crisis. We have started planning the field experiment that will test the policy-assumption that access to news increases people’s political participation. The experiment will be conducted in 2023. To provide focused scholarly network for the project, the project leader has established the network Culture, Inequality and Democracy (situated at UiB). We have arranged an international phd-seminar about the use of media and culture and inequality, and we have designed and conducted a Master course – culture, inequality and democracy. The findings and insights from this project will have high relevance for research on poverty and inequality as well as for news- and media sociology. They will have practical relevance for designing and implementing media- and cultural policy, both locally and nationally. Web: https://www.norceresearch.no/en/projects/media-poverty

MePo asks: How do conditions of poverty affect people’s possibilities to enact informed and active citizenship through their use of the media? The media is a key intermediary between citizens and the world beyond their private sphere. Thus, people’s use of the media is a precondition for the enactment of informed and active citizenship. Poverty is systematically linked to public disconnection and to low political participation. For citizens who live in conditions of poverty, the consequences are crippled possibilities for civic agency and the reinforcement of marginalisation. For democracy, the civic withdrawal of this group challenges its legitimacy. We now lack knowledge about how conditions of poverty impact people’s use of the media. Policymaking stops short at measures of access to news, failing to address the real-life conditions of poverty. In consequence, we have a weak understanding of the problem at hand and insufficient strategies to promote active citizenship to all. MePo offers a first comprehensive study of media use and citizenship in the context of poverty. The objectives of MePo are to renew our understanding of how poverty affects the civic uses of media, to challenge the current paradigm of access, and to equip policymakers with better knowledge to address poverty-stricken citizens. These objectives will be achieved through through a multi-method, comparative design, using Norway as critical case. MePo statistically maps media use patterns among poor citizens. Through a comprehensive qualitative research design, it examines how media use is embedded in everyday conditions of poverty, and how these conditions afford public (dis)connection. Through a nationwide field experiment, it tests causal relationships between access to news and electoral participation among disconnected citizens. In collaboration with welfare institutions and users, it recommends measures that target the real-life barriers of citizens living in poverty.